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HomeNewsPublications
  • September 19th 2017
    Dr. Chris Whittier of Gorilla Doctors

    The PrimateCast #56: Talking applied wildlife veterinary medicine at IPS 2016 with Dr. Chris Whittier

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  • August 31st 2017
    Fabian Leendertz at the German Symposium on Zoonoses Research in 2014

    The PrimateCast #55: Talking wildlife disease at IPS 2016 with Dr. Fabian Leendertz

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  • May 15th 2017
    The PrimateCast's Andrew MacIntosh and Dr. Charlie Nunn at IPS 2016 in Chicago

    The PrimateCast #54: Talking Comparative Evolution, Infectious Disease and ... Sleep with Dr. Charlie Nunn

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  • May 13th 2017

    The PrimateCast #53: Talking Primate Behavioral Ecology with Dr. Karen Strier

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  • February 2nd 2017

    The PrimateCast #52: Conservation Voices from South Africa – Canned lion hunting with Dr. Andrew Venter

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  • October 16th 2016
    Airi Yamawaki on The PrimateCast

    The PrimateCast #51: Conservation Voices from Tokyo – Talking Ivory with Airi Yamawaki

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  • October 10th 2016

    The PrimateCast #50: Houseboat Amazon with Dr. Laura Marsh

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  • October 6th 2016

    The PrimateCast #49: Conservation Voices from Hawaii - IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016

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  • October 4th 2016
    Mac and Cecile go full PrimateCast

    The PrimateCast #48: Voices from Chicago - a look back at IPS/ASP 2016

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  • August 30th 2016
    The PrimateCast Talking Cold-blooded Cognition and Conservation with Dr. Anna Wilkinson

    The PrimateCast #47: Talking Cold-blooded Cognition and Conservation with Dr. Anna Wilkinson

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  • August 8th 2016
    Anna Nekaris

    The PrimateCast #46: Talking Loris Venom and Conservation with Dr. Anna Nekaris

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  • July 17th 2016
    The PrimateCast - An Interview with Dr. Ralph Adolphs

    The PrimateCast #45: An Interview with Dr. Ralph Adolphs

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Cultural style of higher affiliation artificially generated in marmosets

June 16th 2014
Publications
a new study on marmoset behavior

The study was conducted by CICASP’s Dr. Claire Watson as part of her PhD at the University of Stirling, supervised by Dr. Christine Caldwell, seconded by Prof. Hannah Buchanan-Smith.

Evolution of Culture

As humans, we differ in the way we do things, but also in the extent. One type of culture (qualitative culture) is forms of behavior that are present in some societies, but absent in others, for example, the hand-shake when meeting someone new. Another conception of culture (quantitative culture/cultural style) is variations in degree. For example, when two people talk together, in some cultures the typical distance between them is very short, while in others the gap is, in general, very much wider. The evolutionary origins of human culture can be better understood by investigating culture in nonhuman primates.

Potential traditions, group-specific behavioral differences of both qualitative and quantitative types, have been observed in wild primates. However, it is very difficult to determine whether such differences are truly cultural (spread socially), or whether they can be explained solely by within-group shared genetic tendencies, or between-group environmental dissimilarities. If it can be shown in controlled experiments that such behaviour patterns can be spread through social influence, this supports the assumed existence of culture in wild primates.

Novel approach

A huge number of empirical studies have been carried out to investigate transmission of qualitative culture. However, the recent study represents the first experimental study to look into the spread of cultural style within a species of nonhuman primate. An innovative method to examine cultural transmission experimentally – a playback paradigm – was trialed successfully.

The same authors have shown previously that affiliative (‘friendly’) calls made in neighboring social groups are associated with increased affiliation in marmosets. The new study involved simulating even more highly amicable marmosets, situated nearby, by playing a high rate of affiliative calls, for several hours a day. The amount of time marmosets spent in affiliative behaviour outside playback-hours was recorded. The increase in time spent in affiliation from baseline to outside playback-hours was larger for marmosets exposed to affiliative call playback than to control playback. This difference did not persist after all playback ended.

Results are consistent with cultural style having spread via auditory social contagion, through social influence of call playback. The findings support the existence of cultural style in wild primates.

Welfare: Enrichment

This study also demonstrated a novel potential welfare application. Playback of positive, affiliative, calls led marmosets to spend longer in affiliative behaviors, associated with positive welfare, with no increase in behavioural indicators of negative welfare. Auditory playback of positive calls thus represents sensory and non-contact social enrichment for marmosets, with possibilities for use in other captive animals.

Click here to see the original open access article.

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CICASP, 41-2, Kanrin,
Inuyama, Aichi,
484-8506 Japan
Phone: +81 (0)568-63-0284
Fax: +81 (0)568-61-1050
Email: cicasp [at] ml [dot] pri [dot] kyoto-u [dot] ac [dot] jp

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