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Science 14 July 2006:
Vol. 313. no. 5784, pp. 227 - 229
DOI: 10.1126/science.1128727
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Reports

Teaching in Wild Meerkats

Alex Thornton* and Katherine McAuliffe

Despite the obvious benefits of directed mechanisms that facilitate the efficient transfer of skills, there is little critical evidence for teaching in nonhuman animals. Using observational and experimental data, we show that wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta) teach pups prey-handling skills by providing them with opportunities to interact with live prey. In response to changing pup begging calls, helpers alter their prey-provisioning methods as pups grow older, thus accelerating learning without the use of complex cognition. The lack of evidence for teaching in species other than humans may reflect problems in producing unequivocal support for the occurrence of teaching, rather than the absence of teaching.

Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jant2{at}cam.ac.uk

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The rise and fall of an arbitrary tradition: an experiment with wild meerkats.
A. Thornton and A. Malapert (2009)
Proc R Soc B 276, 1269-1276
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Nine-spined sticklebacks deploy a hill-climbing social learning strategy.
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The development of foraging microhabitat preferences in meerkats.
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Variation in contributions to teaching by meerkats.
A. Thornton (2008)
Proc R Soc B 275, 1745-1751
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Variable postfledging care in a cooperative bird: causes and consequences.
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Human and animal cognition: Continuity and discontinuity.
D. Premack (2007)
PNAS 104, 13861-13867
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