Social Learning in Keas

Social learning is the building stone of behavioural traditions and therefore has become one of the key topics of cognitive and behavioural sciences. For our study of the mechanisms and functions of social learning we shall use keas, (Nestor notabilis) as model species because they show a unique combination of preconditions suggested for social learning to occur, like complex sociality, opportunistic generalism, group foraging, behavioural flexibility, curiosity, extended association with parents, extreme iteroparity, and long potential life-span. In fact, we found good evidence for several forms of social learning in keas in a recent laboratory experiment, including a particular interesting though rarely detected form, emulation learning. Here we will combine laboratory experiments with observations in the field in order to integrate functional, cognitive and developmental issues. The key questions are: What is the role of social learning in the evolution of sociality in keas? What is the function of social learning in group exploration and object play? What is the adaptive significance of social learning in keas? What social learning mechanisms do these birds use? When and how do the respective mechanisms develop? Can keas imitate?

In November 2001 we started a research project that aimed at collecting solid empirical evidence for the function and mechanism of social learning in non-human animals. While social learning has been studied extensively in psychological laboratories in order to delineate the information that is used to benefit from observation of an experienced model, we aimed to investigate more broadly the conditions under which social learning occurs in the wild. We selected the kea (Nestor notabilis) as model species because this bird species shows a unique combination of preconditions suggested for social learning to occur, like complex sociality, opportunistic generalism, group foraging, extreme behavioural flexibility, unusual exploratory / curiosity behaviour, extended association with parents, and long potential life-span. We investigated social learning in kea by providing captive and wild keas information from conspecific models for the solution of mechanical problems and by testing the observer`s individual performance in the task thereafter. In contrast to our captive subjects, wild keas failed to solve the task. This demonstrates that attempts are needed to increase the validity of conclusions from laboratory settings for field conditions. The wild keas` inferiority in social learning was verified by our analyses of innovative bin opening in the park. Only a few individuals succeeded to open the lids of large rubbish bins for food scraps within. Although other birds watched successful bin opening, they failed in their own attempts to do so. The analyses of our data indicate that differences in development of physical cognition contribute to the different performance of captive and wild keas in our tasks and that there is an interrelation between social learning and physical cognition (technical intelligence). In order to study technical intelligence, we started to investigate its development in captive keas. We provided captive keas a task where they had to pull up a string attached to a perch in order to acquire a reward at the end of the string. The keas` excellent performance in this task is only achieved by ravens, a species among those for which data are available for this task. Like primates, keas failed in another famous technical problem, the "trap-tube" task. This indicates similar cognitive patterns in large brained bird species and primates. Investigating learning mechanisms of a non-mammalian species in the laboratory and field provides important integrative impact for biology and psychology. The project contributes to our knowledge of similarities and differences in cognition between humans and animals and how these capacities evolved. The project increased our knowledge on exploratory behaviour of this species that is worldwide known for its curiosity but is also regarded as pest in New Zealand because of its destructive behaviour on human belongings.