A deepening understanding of animal culture suggests lessons for conservation

Abstract

A key goal of conservation is to protect biodiversity by supporting the long-term persistence of viable, natural populations of wild species. Conservation practice has long been guided by genetic, ecological and demographic indicators of risk. Emerging evidence of animal culture across diverse taxa and its role as a driver of evolutionary diversification, population structure and demographic processes may be essential for augmenting these conventional conservation approaches and decision-making. Animal culture was the focus of a ground-breaking resolution under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an international treaty operating under the UN Environment Programme. Here, we synthesize existing evidence to demonstrate how social learning and animal culture interact with processes important to conservation management. Specifically, we explore how social learning might influence population viability and be an important resource in response to anthropogenic change, and provide examples of how it can result in phenotypically distinct units with different, socially learnt behavioural strategies. While identifying culture and social learning can be challenging, indirect identification and parsimonious inferences may be informative. Finally, we identify relevant methodologies and provide a framework for viewing behavioural data through a cultural lens which might provide new insights for conservation management.

Post-release Movement Behaviour and Survival of Kulan Reintroduced to the Steppes and Deserts of Central Kazakhstan

“…3000 kulan roam over a relatively small area where water and pasture are limited and which they have known all their lives, making it easy to find conspecifics. The reintroduced kulan in the Torgai region lacked all these advantages and once separated most likely did not find each other again, pointing towards the importance of social learning in the context of reintroduction projects (Brakes et al, 2021). That kulan were seeking company became apparent from an observation of mare 26860 grazing together with a group of domestic horses in February 2019 (Kaczensky et al, 2020).…”

“…Kulan live in fission-fusion groups of frequently changing membership (Rubenstein et al, 2015;Renan et al, 2018) and individual kulan seem to show little overall movement coordination (Calabrese et al, 2018). However, kulan movements are strongly influenced by their need to access water, restricting pasture use to within commuting distances of waterpoints, but also resulting in kulan converging at these localities (Nandintsetseg et al, 2016;Payne et al, 2020) facilitating fission-fusion group dynamics and potentially allowing for social learning, including movement strategies (Brakes et al, 2021).…”

When does cultural evolution become cumulative culture? A case study of humpback whale song

“…Where such experiments are not feasible (or ethical), the presence of cultural processes can be inferred through observed patterns of behavioural expression that are shared within populations but differ between populations [19][20][21]. Such studies, while not direct tests of social learning, provide robust, parsimonious inference for the presence of cultural processes [22].…”

“…To avoid confusion surrounding the use of the terms 'social learning' and 'culture', we define social learning as any learning process that is facilitated by the observation of, or interaction with, another animal or its products [9,[22][23][24][25]. Social learning is essential for creating a culture.…”

“…Social learning is essential for creating a culture. Here, we define culture as information or behaviours shared within a group, and acquired from conspecifics through some form of social learning [9,22,26]. Culture is able to act as a 'second inheritance system' whereby information is passed from generation to generation, creating stable cultures [11].…”