MSGID: 1:317/3 64acdb12   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    More menu choices: Migrant orangutans learn a lot about food by watching   
   the locals    
      
     Date:   
         July 10, 2023   
     Source:   
         Universita"t Leipzig   
     Summary:   
         Migrant male orangutans on Borneo and Sumatra learn about   
         unfamiliar foods in their new home range by 'peering' at experienced   
         locals: intensely observing them at close range. This is what an   
         international research team found out in a long-term study with   
         152 male animals observed over a period of 30 years. Peering was   
         most frequently seen when locals consumed foods that were rare or   
         hard to process.   
      
      
         Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   Migrant male orangutans on Borneo and Sumatra learn about unfamiliar foods   
   in their new home range by 'peering' at experienced locals: intensely   
   observing them at close range. This is what an international research team   
   led by Leipzig University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary   
   Anthropology in Leipzig found out in a long-term study with 152 male   
   animals observed over a period of 30 years. Peering was most frequently   
   seen when locals consumed foods that were rare or hard to process. The   
   results have been published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.   
      
   Orangutans are dependent on their mothers longer than any other non-human   
   animal, nursing until they are at least six years old and living with her   
   for up to three more years, learning how to find, choose, and process the   
   exceedingly varied range of foods they eat. But how do orangutans that   
   have left their mothers and now live far from their natal ranges, where   
   the available foods may be very different, decide what to eat and figure   
   out how to eat it? Now, an international team of authors has shown that in   
   such cases, migrants follow the rule 'observe, and do as the locals do'.   
      
   "Here we show evidence that migrant orangutan males use observational   
   social learning to learn new ecological knowledge from local individuals   
   after dispersing to a new area," says Julia Mo"rchen, a doctoral student   
   at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Leipzig   
   University, in Germany, and the study's lead author. "Our results suggest   
   that migrant males not only learn where to find food and what to feed on   
   from locals, but also continue to learn how to process these new foods."   
   Mo"rchen and colleagues showed that migrant males learn this information   
   through a behaviour called 'peering': intensely observing for at least   
   five seconds and from within two metres at a role model. Typically,   
   peering orangutans faced the role model and showed signs of following   
   his or her actions with head movements, indicating attentive interest.   
      
   Male orangutans migrate to another area after becoming independent,   
   while females tend to settle close to their natal home range. "What   
   we don't yet know is how far orangutan males disperse, or where they   
   disperse to. But it's possible to make informed guesses: genetic data   
   and observations of orangutans crossing physical barriers such as rivers   
   and mountains suggest long-distance dispersal, likely over tens of   
   kilometres," says Mo"rchen. "This implies that during migration, males   
   likely come across several habitat types and thus experience a variety   
   of faunistic compositions, especially when crossing through habitats of   
   different altitudes. Over evolutionary time, being able to quickly adapt   
   to novel environments by attending to crucial information from locals,   
   likely provided individuals with a survival advantage. As a result,   
   this ability is likely ancestral in our hominin lineage, reaching back   
   between at least 12 and 14 million years to the last common ancestor   
   we share with orangutans."  Peering by males was observed 534 times,   
   occurring in 207 (5.2%) of these associations. In Suaq Balimbing, males   
   most frequently peered at local females followed by local juveniles,   
   and least at adult males. In the less sociable population of Tuanan,   
   the opposite held: males most frequently peered at adult males, followed   
   by immature orangutans, and least at adult females. Migrant males at   
   Tuanan may lack opportunities to peer at local females, as females are   
   known to avoid long associations with them in this population. Migrant   
   males then interacted more frequently with the peered-at food afterwards,   
   putting into practice what they had learned through peering.   
      
   "Our detailed analyses further showed that the migrant orangutan males   
   in our study peered most frequently at food items that are difficult to   
   process, or which are only rarely eaten by the locals: including foods   
   that were only recorded being eaten for a few minutes over the entire   
   study period," says Dr Anja Widdig, a professor at Leipzig University   
   and co-senior author of the study.   
      
   The authors cautioned that it is still unknown how many times adult   
   orangutans need to peer at a particular behaviour before mastering   
   it themselves.   
      
   Observations suggest that depending on the complexity or novelty of the   
   learned skill, adults may still use explorative behaviours on certain   
   food items they first learned about through peering -- possibly to   
   figure out more details, strengthen and memorize the new information,   
   or to compare the latter with previous knowledge.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # Apes # Behavioral_Science # Food #   
                   Animal_Learning_and_Intelligence   
             o Earth_&_Climate   
                   # Weather # Ecology # Environmental_Awareness # Geography   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Puma o Mule o Piranha o Cricket_(insect) o American_Mink o   
             Cottontop_Tamarin o Semen o Sex_linkage   
      
   ==========================================================================   
      
    Print   
      
    Email   
      
    Share   
   ==========================================================================   
   ****** 1 ****** ***** 2 ***** **** 3 ****   
   *** 4 *** ** 5 ** Breaking this hour   
   ==========================================================================   
       * Six_Foods_to_Boost_Cardiovascular_Health   
       * Cystic_Fibrosis:_Lasting_Improvement *   
       Artificial_Cells_Demonstrate_That_'Life_...   
      
       * Advice_to_Limit_High-Fat_Dairy_Foods_Challenged   
       * First_Snapshots_of_Fermion_Pairs *   
       Why_No_Kangaroos_in_Bali;_No_Tigers_in_Australia   
       * New_Route_for_Treating_Cancer:_Chromosomes *   
       Giant_Stone_Artefacts_Found:_Prehistoric_Tools   
       * Astonishing_Secrets_of_Tunicate_Origins *   
       Most_Distant_Active_Supermassive_Black_Hole   
      
   Trending Topics this week   
   ==========================================================================   
   PLANTS_&_ANIMALS Endangered_Plants Botany Food EARTH_&_CLIMATE   
   Environmental_Policy Sustainability Hazardous_Waste FOSSILS_&_RUINS   
   Fossils Early_Mammals Early_Climate   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Strange & Offbeat   
   ==========================================================================   
   PLANTS_&_ANIMALS   
   Bees_Make_Decisions_Better_and_Faster_Than_We_Do,_for_the_Things_That_Matter_to   
   Them   
   These_Lollipops_Could_'Sweeten'_Diagnostic_Testing_for_Kids_and_Adults_Alike   
   Why_There_Are_No_Kangaroos_in_Bali_(and_No_Tigers_in_Australia)   
   EARTH_&_CLIMATE   
   Turning_Old_Maps_Into_3D_Digital_Models_of_Lost_Neighborhoods   
   Squash_Bugs_Are_Attracted_to_and_Eat_Each_Other's_Poop_to_Stock_Their   
   Microbiome How_Urea_May_Have_Been_the_Gateway_to_Life FOSSILS_&_RUINS   
   Giant_Stone_Artefacts_Found_on_Rare_Ice_Age_Site_in_Kent,_UK   
   Fossils_Reveal_How_Ancient_Birds_Molted_Their_Feathers_--_Which_Could_Help   
   Explain_Why_Ancestors_of_Modern_Birds_Survived_When_All_the_Other_Dinosaurs   
   Died Apex_Predator_of_the_Cambrian_Likely_Sought_Soft_Over_Crunchy_Prey   
   Story Source: Materials provided by Universita"t_Leipzig. Original   
   written by Susann Huster.   
      
   Note: Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Julia Mo"rchen, Frances Luhn, Olivia Wassmer, Julia A. Kunz,   
      Lars Kulik,   
         Maria A. van Noordwijk, Carel P. van Schaik, Puji Rianti,   
         Sri Suci Utami Atmoko, Anja Widdig, Caroline Schuppli. Migrant   
         orangutan males use social learning to adapt to new habitat after   
         dispersal. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2023; 11 DOI:   
         10.3389/fevo.2023.1158887   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230710113816.htm   
      
   --- up 1 year, 19 weeks, 10 hours, 50 minutes   
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)   
   SEEN-BY: 15/0 106/201 114/705 123/120 153/7715 218/700 226/30 227/114   
   SEEN-BY: 229/110 112 113 307 317 400 426 428 470 664 700 291/111 292/854   
   SEEN-BY: 298/25 305/3 317/3 320/219 396/45 5075/35   
   PATH: 317/3 229/426