St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Chimpanzees’ behavioral flexibility, social tolerance and use of tool-composites in a progressively challenging foraging problem

Thumbnail
View/Open
Harrison_2021_iScience_Flexibility_CC.pdf (2.596Mb)
Date
19/02/2021
Author
Harrison, Rachel A.
van Leeuwen, Edwin
Whiten, Andrew
Funder
John Templeton Foundation
Grant ID
40128
Keywords
BF Psychology
DAS
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Altmetrics DOI Statistics
Abstract
Behavioral flexibility is a critical ability allowing animals to respond to changes in their environment. Previous studies have found evidence of inflexibility when captive chimpanzees are faced with changing task parameters. We provided two groups of sanctuary-housed chimpanzees with a foraging task in which solutions were restricted over time. Initially, juice could be retrieved from within a tube by hand or by using tool materials, but effective solutions were then restricted by narrowing the tube, necessitating the abandonment of previous solutions and adoption of new ones. Chimpanzees responded flexibly, but one group increased their use of effective techniques to a greater extent than the other. Tool-composite techniques emerged in both groups, but primarily in the more flexible group. The more flexible group also showed higher rates of socio-positive behaviors at the task. In conjunction, these findings support the hypothesis that social tolerance may facilitate the emergence and spread of novel behaviors.
Citation
Harrison , R A , van Leeuwen , E & Whiten , A 2021 , ' Chimpanzees’ behavioral flexibility, social tolerance and use of tool-composites in a progressively challenging foraging problem ' , iScience , vol. 24 , no. 2 , 102033 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102033
Publication
iScience
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102033
ISSN
2589-0042
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Description
This work was supported by a John Templeton Foundation grant ID 40128 to A.W. and K. Laland. R. A. H. is currently supported by a Swiss National Science Foundation grant (PP00P3_170624) awarded to Erica van de Waal. E.J.C.v.L. is currently funded by a Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URL
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004221000018#appsec2
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/21291

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter