STUDY: Orangutan mothers gradually adjust how much food they share with their offspring to help them become independent
The researchers found that orangutan mothers show the highest tolerance levels during the age at which their offspring acquire their food recognition and food processing skills, around four to five years.
JONATHAN CHADWICK: Orangutan mothers gradually adjust how much food they share with their offspring to help them learn quicker and become independent, scientists in Germany reveal. The researchers, from Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz, analysed behaviour between orangutan mothers and infants in Sumatra, Indonesia. They claim to have uncovered the first evidence yet of active involvement by orangutan mothers in their offspring’s learning of new skills…
Much like humans, orangutans rely on their mothers to learn life skills – such as what to eat and where to find it – before they finally reach independence… An orangutan mother will stay in close contact with her baby for up to nine years – longer than almost all mammals other than humans… But unlike humans, orangutan mothers were not known to participate in their offspring’s learning. Until now, orangutan mothers were thought to behave as passive role models rather than active teachers…
When orangutan mothers are foraging, they ‘tailor their behaviour’ to match the age and abilities of their offspring, thereby helping their young to learn. Once the orangutan infants become independent, the mothers can reproduce again, so tailoring their behaviour in this way is beneficial for the mothers too. ‘Immature orangutans acquire their feeding skills over several years, via social and independent learning,’ the researchers say in their research paper. ‘So far, it has remained uninvestigated to what extent orangutan mothers are actively involved in this learning process. We conclude that orangutan mothers have a more active role in the skill acquisition of their offspring than previously thought’…
During the eight to nine year weaning period, immature orangutans must learn how to recognise and process more than 200 food items, many of which require several steps before they can be eaten… The researchers found that orangutan mothers show the highest tolerance levels during the age at which their offspring acquire their food recognition and food processing skills – around four to five years. What’s more, they show the highest levels of tolerance for items that are difficult to process, and they stay tolerant longest for these items. For items that require tool use, for example, the mothers show the highest tolerance levels and stay tolerant throughout the offspring’s dependency period…
Damien Neadle, a researcher at Birmingham City University who was not involved with the study, thinks the orangutan mother’s change in behaviour might provide an evolutionary advantage… ‘Those mothers who are more tolerant and helpful, with offspring potentially gaining independence earlier, can reproduce more’… ‘These findings give us a special insight into the factors that lead to the evolution of teaching… While teaching is quite rare in the animal kingdom, it occurs in widely separated species. Our study shows that these orangutans have at least some, and perhaps all, of the cognitive, ecological, and social conditions to support teaching ability’, said study author Dr Caroline Schuppli. SOURCE…
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