Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40308137›Full record

SynthesisPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2025

Knowledge transmission, culture and the consequences of social disruption in wild elephants.

Lucy Bates, Victoria Louise Fishlock, Joshua Plotnik, Shermin de Silva, Graeme Shannon

Abstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Knowledge transmission, culture and the consequences of social disruption in wild elephants.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. The flexibility of social learning and its conservation implications in mammals and beyond.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  6. Strategies for integrating animal social learning and culture into conservation translocation practice.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  7. Animal culture: conservation in a changing world.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Article
  8. Fishy culture in a changing world.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  9. Cultural processes and demography: implications for conservation and beyond.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Lucy BatesSchool of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2UP, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-4746-3312
Victoria Louise FishlockAmboseli Trust for Elephants, Nairobi, Kenya.
Joshua PlotnikDepartment of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Shermin de SilvaDepartment of Ecology and Evolution, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5804-213X
Graeme ShannonSchool of Environmental and Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2DG, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-5039-4904

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cultural knowledge is widely presumed to be important for elephants. In all three elephant species, individuals tend to congregate around older conspecifics, creating opportunities for social transmission. However, direct evidence of social learning and cultural traditions in elephants is scarce. Here, we briefly outline that evidence then provide a systematic review of how elephant societies respond to the loss of potentially knowledgeable individuals or opportunities for knowledge transfer, which we characterize as

Indexed as

Behavior, AnimalElephantsSocial BehaviorSocial LearningAnimalsConservation of Natural ResourcesCultureelephant conservationelephant culturesocial disruptionsocial knowledge

Identifiers

PMID40308137
PMCPMC12044372

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.