Contrasting responses to novelty by wild and captive orangutans

Forss, Sofia; Schuppli, Caroline; Haiden, Dominique; Zweifel, Nicole; Schaik, Carel P. van

doi:10.1002/ajp.22445

Cited by 81 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Small platforms in the shape of ape nests were hoisted into the canopy within the height range of orangutan travel and provided with novel items, including novel foods. The results [52] showed that wild orangutans, both Sumatran and Bornean, pass the novel stimulus at a safe distance and avoid approaching novelty for several months (figure 1). In both the Sumatran and the Bornean site, only a single (adolescent) individual was ever recorded as contacting the novel items, despite their being available for nearly five and over eight months, respectively.…”

Section: How Wild Orangutans Acquire Their Innovationsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The same study that examined responses to novelty in wild orangutans was repeated with zoo animals using the same and very similar sets of novel items [52]. The contrast was striking (figure 1).…”

Section: Orangutans In Zoos and Rescue Centresmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Thus, the true difference is even greater than suggested by the figure. After Forss et al [52]. fall-back foods [54].…”

Section: How Wild Orangutans Acquire Their Innovationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Less information is available for exploration than novelty response, and whether captive individuals engage more in independent exploration compared with their wild counterparts, as has been shown for the orangutans [52]. However, the contrast between wild and captive individuals reported for orangutans holds for several species with regard to innovations.…”

Section: Orangutans In Zoos and Rescue Centresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If individuals can rely on social information when immature, they do not need to respond to novelty. Thus, novelty response is unlikely to have been a major source of innovation among many non-human primates [4,34,52,81].…”

Section: (A) Novelty Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

The reluctant innovator: orangutans and the phylogeny of creativity

Schaik¹,

Burkart²,

Damerius³

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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One contribution of 15 to a theme issue 'Innovation in animals and humans: understanding the origins and development of novel and creative behaviour'. Young orangutans are highly neophobic, avoid independent exploration and show a preference for social learning. Accordingly, they acquire virtually all their learned skills through exploration that is socially induced. Adult exploration rates are also low. Comparisons strongly suggest that major innovations, i.e. behaviours that have originally been brought into the population through individual invention, are made where ecological opportunities to do so are propitious. Most populations nonetheless have large innovation repertoires, because innovations, once made, are retained well through social transmission. Wild orangutans are therefore not innovative. In striking contrast, zoo-living orangutans actively seek novelty and are highly exploratory and innovative, probably because of positive reinforcement, active encouragement by human role models, increased sociality and an expectation of safety. The explanation for this contrast most relevant to hominin evolution is that captive apes generally have a highly reduced cognitive load, in particular owing to the absence of predation risk, which strongly reduces the costs of exploration. If the orangutan results generalize to other great apes, this suggests that our ancestors could have become more curious once they had achieved near-immunity to predation on the eve of the explosive increase in creativity characterizing the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution.

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Section: How Wild Orangutans Acquire Their Innovationsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Orangutans In Zoos and Rescue Centresmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Thus, the true difference is even greater than suggested by the figure. After Forss et al [52]. fall-back foods [54].…”

Section: How Wild Orangutans Acquire Their Innovationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Orangutans In Zoos and Rescue Centresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (A) Novelty Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The reluctant innovator: orangutans and the phylogeny of creativity

Schaik¹,

Burkart²,

Damerius³

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Differences in novel food response betweenPongoandPan

Forss

Motes-Rodrigo

Hrubesch

et al. 2019

American J Primatol

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The diversity of great ape diets requires behavioral flexibility. Consequently, the exploration of potentially novel food sources is supposedly beneficial, but simultaneously, apes show high neophobia to prevent harmful and poisonous food intake. Social information, such as presence of group members or observations of nonnaïve, experienced individuals have been demonstrated to affect the acceptance of novel food items in primates. Sociality may have evolutionary effects on the response of apes to novel foods. Here we assess the social information hypothesis, which predicts that selection favors higher neophobia in species where social information is abundant.We report the results from 134 great apes housed in multiple facilities from four closely related species that naturally differ in their degree of sociality: Pongo pygmaeus, Pongo abelii, Pan troglodytes and Pan paniscus. We examined individuals' reactions to novel foods when alone, which enabled us to detect any inherent differences and revealed significant distinctions between species. Chimpanzees and bonobos, that are naturally exposed to higher amounts of social information, were less likely to consume novel foods alone (showed higher neophobia) than the two more solitary orangutan species.Chimpanzees were especially cautious and showed higher explorative behaviors before tasting novel food than other species. Age influenced neophobia as younger individuals of all species took longer to taste novel foods than adults did. K E Y W O R D Sgreat apes, neophobia, novel food, sociality, social information

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The role of novelty and fat and sugar concentration in food selection by captive tufted capuchins (Sapajus apella)

Heuberger

Paukner

Wooddell³

et al. 2020

American J Primatol

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Capuchins, like other primates, use feedback from sensory cues and digestion to make decisions about which foods to consume and which to avoid. However, little is known about how capuchins make consumption decisions when simultaneously presented with novel and familiar foods, or how food familiarity and macronutrient concentration together influence food choice, topics with potential implications for developmental and health research. In this study, we evaluated the role of familiarity, as well as fat and sugar concentration, in the food selections of captive tufted capuchins (Sapajus apella). In the first experiment, over ten sessions, subjects were assigned to either a group that chose between one familiar and one novel food item both high in fat or sugar (high condition), or to a group that chose between one familiar and one novel food item both low in fat or sugar (low condition). In the second experiment, subjects were divided into three groups, familiarized with a food over five feeding sessions, and then offered the familiarized food and a novel food that varied in fat or sugar for 10 sessions. When offered foods high in fat, capuchins showed no clear signs of neophobia, forming an initial preference for the novel food, rejecting foods less frequently, and selecting foods faster than when offered foods low in fat. These trends were generally not observed in response to foods with sugar. When presented with options that varied in macronutrient concentration, subjects showed an initial interest in the novel food irrespective of whether it was high in fat or sugar, yet formed a final preference for the higherconcentration item. Findings suggest that the concentration of fat or sugar in novel foods may be an important mediator of exploratory behavior, and that capuchins rely on immediate feedback from taste and other sensory cues to make consumption decisions.

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Contrasting responses to novelty by wild and captive orangutans

Cited by 81 publications

References 70 publications

The reluctant innovator: orangutans and the phylogeny of creativity

The reluctant innovator: orangutans and the phylogeny of creativity

Differences in novel food response betweenPongoandPan

The role of novelty and fat and sugar concentration in food selection by captive tufted capuchins (Sapajus apella)

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