Behavioral experiment demonstrates social learning improves novel foraging task success in urban Kelp Gulls, suggesting social transmission aids adaptation to human-modified habitats.
Key Points
To test whether observing a conspecific demonstrator improves the acquisition of a novel foraging behavior in urban Kelp Gulls, accounting for observer and demonstrator age.
Assessed novel foraging problem-solving using an extractive opaque box task in 25 naïve observer gulls (13 adults, 12 immatures) compared to 6 control gulls at an urban landfill.
Evaluated performance pre- and post-demonstration, tracking task success rates, latencies to contact and solve the box, lid-opening technique matching, and demonstrator neophobia.
Following conspecific demonstration, 52% of observer gulls solved the task compared to 0% of control gulls, whereas baseline solving rates were 28% for observers and 33% for controls.
Adult observers were significantly more successful and faster at contacting and solving the box relative to controls and their own pre-demonstration baseline, while demonstrator age and neophobia did not influence observer success.
Observers predominantly copied the demonstrated lid-opening technique, with immature gulls displaying greater consistency in matching the specific lid type demonstrated than adults.