Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A "do as other does" study.
Cetaceans are remarkable for exhibiting group-specific behavioral traditions or cultures in several behavioral domains (e.g., calls, behavioral tactics), and the question of whether they can be acquired socially, for example through imitative processes, remains open. Here we used a "Do as other...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d8f74f02378445caaff469ca534eed2c 2023-05-15T15:41:39+02:00 Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A "do as other does" study. José Z Abramson Mª Victoria Hernández-Lloreda José-Antonio Esteban Fernando Colmenares Francisco Aboitiz Josep Call 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178906 https://doaj.org/article/d8f74f02378445caaff469ca534eed2c EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5479519?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0178906 https://doaj.org/article/d8f74f02378445caaff469ca534eed2c PLoS ONE, Vol 12, Iss 6, p e0178906 (2017) Medicine R Science Q article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178906 2022-12-31T00:07:17Z Cetaceans are remarkable for exhibiting group-specific behavioral traditions or cultures in several behavioral domains (e.g., calls, behavioral tactics), and the question of whether they can be acquired socially, for example through imitative processes, remains open. Here we used a "Do as other does" paradigm to experimentally study the ability of a beluga to imitate familiar intransitive (body-oriented) actions demonstrated by a conspecific. The participant was first trained to copy three familiar behaviors on command (training phase) and then was tested for her ability to generalize the learned "Do as the other does" command to a different set of three familiar behaviors (testing phase). We found that the beluga (1) was capable of learning the copy command signal "Do what-the-other-does"; (2) exhibited high matching accuracy for trained behaviors (mean = 84% of correct performance) after making the first successful copy on command; (3) copied successfully the new set of three familiar generalization behaviors that were untrained to the copy command (range of first copy = 12 to 35 trials); and (4) deployed a high level of matching accuracy (mean = 83%) after making the first copy of an untrained behavior on command. This is the first evidence of contextual imitation of intransitive (body-oriented) movements in the beluga and adds to the reported findings on production imitation of sounds in this species and production imitation of sounds and motor actions in several cetaceans, especially dolphins and killer whales. Collectively these findings highlight the notion that cetaceans have a natural propensity at skillfully and proficiently matching the sounds and body movements demonstrated by conspecifics, a fitness-enhancing propensity in the context of cooperative hunting and anti-predatory defense tactics, and of alliance formation strategies that have been documented in these species' natural habitats. Future work should determine if the beluga can also imitate novel motor actions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLOS ONE 12 6 e0178906 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q José Z Abramson Mª Victoria Hernández-Lloreda José-Antonio Esteban Fernando Colmenares Francisco Aboitiz Josep Call Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A "do as other does" study. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Cetaceans are remarkable for exhibiting group-specific behavioral traditions or cultures in several behavioral domains (e.g., calls, behavioral tactics), and the question of whether they can be acquired socially, for example through imitative processes, remains open. Here we used a "Do as other does" paradigm to experimentally study the ability of a beluga to imitate familiar intransitive (body-oriented) actions demonstrated by a conspecific. The participant was first trained to copy three familiar behaviors on command (training phase) and then was tested for her ability to generalize the learned "Do as the other does" command to a different set of three familiar behaviors (testing phase). We found that the beluga (1) was capable of learning the copy command signal "Do what-the-other-does"; (2) exhibited high matching accuracy for trained behaviors (mean = 84% of correct performance) after making the first successful copy on command; (3) copied successfully the new set of three familiar generalization behaviors that were untrained to the copy command (range of first copy = 12 to 35 trials); and (4) deployed a high level of matching accuracy (mean = 83%) after making the first copy of an untrained behavior on command. This is the first evidence of contextual imitation of intransitive (body-oriented) movements in the beluga and adds to the reported findings on production imitation of sounds in this species and production imitation of sounds and motor actions in several cetaceans, especially dolphins and killer whales. Collectively these findings highlight the notion that cetaceans have a natural propensity at skillfully and proficiently matching the sounds and body movements demonstrated by conspecifics, a fitness-enhancing propensity in the context of cooperative hunting and anti-predatory defense tactics, and of alliance formation strategies that have been documented in these species' natural habitats. Future work should determine if the beluga can also imitate novel motor actions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
José Z Abramson Mª Victoria Hernández-Lloreda José-Antonio Esteban Fernando Colmenares Francisco Aboitiz Josep Call |
author_facet |
José Z Abramson Mª Victoria Hernández-Lloreda José-Antonio Esteban Fernando Colmenares Francisco Aboitiz Josep Call |
author_sort |
José Z Abramson |
title |
Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A "do as other does" study. |
title_short |
Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A "do as other does" study. |
title_full |
Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A "do as other does" study. |
title_fullStr |
Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A "do as other does" study. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A "do as other does" study. |
title_sort |
contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a beluga whale (delphinapterus leucas): a "do as other does" study. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178906 https://doaj.org/article/d8f74f02378445caaff469ca534eed2c |
genre |
Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas |
genre_facet |
Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 12, Iss 6, p e0178906 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5479519?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0178906 https://doaj.org/article/d8f74f02378445caaff469ca534eed2c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178906 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e0178906 |
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1766374547461767168 |