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dc.contributor.authorSantorelli, Claire J.
dc.contributor.authorSchaffner, Colleen M.
dc.contributor.authorCampbell, Christina J.
dc.contributor.authorNotman, Nugh
dc.contributor.authorPavelka, Mary S.
dc.contributor.authorWeghorst, Jennifer
dc.contributor.authorAureli, Filippo
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-19T21:18:29Z
dc.date.available2014-03-19T21:18:29Z
dc.date.issued2011-02-23
dc.identifier.citationSantorelli, C. J., Schaffner, C. M., Campbell, C. J., Notman, H., Pavelka, M. S., Weghorst, J. A., & Aureli, F. (2011). Traditions in Spider Monkeys Are Biased towards the Social Domain. PLoS ONE, 6(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016863
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1808/13279
dc.description.abstractCross-site comparison studies of behavioral variation can provide evidence for traditions in wild species once ecological and genetic factors are excluded as causes for cross-site differences. These studies ensure behavior variants are considered within the context of a species' ecology and evolutionary adaptations. We examined wide-scale geographic variation in the behavior of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) across five long-term field sites in Central America using a well established ethnographic cross-site survey method. Spider monkeys possess a relatively rare social system with a high degree of fission-fusion dynamics, also typical of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and humans (Homo sapiens). From the initial 62 behaviors surveyed 65% failed to meet the necessary criteria for traditions. The remaining 22 behaviors showed cross-site variation in occurrence ranging from absent through to customary, representing to our knowledge, the first documented cases of traditions in this taxon and only the second case of multiple traditions in a New World monkey species. Of the 22 behavioral variants recorded across all sites, on average 57% occurred in the social domain, 19% in food-related domains and 24% in other domains. This social bias contrasts with the food-related bias reported in great ape cross-site comparison studies and has implications for the evolution of human culture. No pattern of geographical radiation was found in relation to distance across sites. Our findings promote A. geoffroyi as a model species to investigate traditions with field and captive based experiments and emphasize the importance of the social domain for the study of animal traditions.
dc.description.sponsorshipResearch at Barro Colorado Island was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (SBR-9711161), the Leakey Foundation, the Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley (www.berkeley.edu) and a Short-term Fellowship from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (www.stri.org). Research at Corcovado National Park's Sirena Biological Station was supported by NSF award 0233248 (with R. Sussman), the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Leakey Foundation, the American Society of Primatologists (www.asp.org), and Washington University in St. Louis (www.wustl.edu). Funds for Sirena's field lab facility were provided to L. E. Gilbert (Univ. of Texas at Austin) by NSF BSR 8315399 and a matching WWF grant, and funds for updating Sirena's trail system and installation of spatial reference system were provided by the Mellon Foundation through the Institute of Latin American Studies at UT Austin. Research at Santa Rosa and Punta Laguna was supported by The British Academy (www.britac.ac.uk), the Wenner-Gren Foundation (www.wennergren.org), the Leakey Foundation (www.leakeyfoundation.org) and the North of England Zoological Society (www.chesterzoo.org). CJS was supported by a Gladstone bursary from the University of Chester (www.chester.ac.uk) and by the Santander University Scheme (www.santander.co.uk). Research at Runaway Creek was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
dc.publisherPublic Library of Science
dc.rights©2011 Santorelli et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectAnimal behavior
dc.subjectBehavior
dc.subjectBehavioral ecology
dc.subjectBehavioral geography
dc.subjectChimpanzees
dc.subjectCommunity ecology
dc.subjectLearning
dc.subjectNew World monkeys
dc.titleTraditions in Spider Monkeys Are Biased towards the Social Domain
dc.typeArticle
kusw.kuauthorWeghorst, Jennifer A.
kusw.kudepartmentBiodiversity Institute
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/journal.pone.0016863
kusw.oaversionScholarly/refereed, publisher version
kusw.oapolicyThis item meets KU Open Access policy criteria.
dc.rights.accessrightsopenAccess


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©2011 Santorelli et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as: ©2011 Santorelli et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.