ArticleLearning & behavior2020
Social learning in great white pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus): A preliminary study.
Article in Learning & behavior, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Locomotion and hunting strategies of large vertebrate predators in pelagic waters.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2026Review
- Recombinase-aid amplification combined with lateral flow detection assay for sex identification of the great white pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus).Scientific reports · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Great white pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus) exhibit life-history parameters and ecological traits thought to be associated with social learning, and advanced cognitive processing more generally. In this study we investigated whether this species can acquire novel behavior socially in a foraging context. Birds from the test group watched a trained conspecific opening an opaque box containing a food reward by using its beak, whereas the control group had no demonstrator but saw the box for an equivalent time span. Individuals from both groups were subsequently allowed access to the box. Subjects of the test group performed significantly better than the control group. This is the first experimental evidence of social learning in a cooperatively hunting bird. Further studies are needed in order to shed light on the factors favoring the evolution of this capacity, by testing different pelican species that vary in their ecology.
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Registered trials
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