ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2025
The growing methodological toolkit for identifying and studying social learning and culture in non-human animals.
Review 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 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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.
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.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Knowledge transmission, culture and the consequences of social disruption in wild elephants.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Mapping nonhuman cultures with the Animal Culture Database.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Conserving avian vocal culture.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Strategies for integrating animal social learning and culture into conservation translocation practice.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- On the interface between cultural transmission, phenotypic diversity, demography and the conservation of migratory ungulates.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Cold-blooded culture? Assessing cultural behaviour in reptiles and its potential conservation implications.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Concerted conservation actions to support chimpanzee cultures.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Social learning and culture in birds: emerging patterns and relevance to conservation.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Animal culture: conservation in a changing world.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Worlds that collide: conservation applications of behaviour and culture in human-wildlife interactions.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Integrating culture into primate conservation.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- The growing methodological toolkit for identifying and studying social learning and culture in non-human animals.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
There is a growing consensus that animals' socially transmitted knowledge should be recognized when planning conservation management, but demonstrating social learning or culture can present considerable challenges, especially in the wild. Fortunately, decades of research have spawned a rich methodological toolkit for exactly this purpose. Here, we review principal approaches, including: social learning experiments; analyses of natural or experimentally seeded diffusions of novel behaviours, sometimes using specialist statistical techniques; mapping of behavioural variation across neighbouring, sympatric or captive groups, or at larger scales; and assessment of aspects of cross-generational transmission, including teaching, learning during ontogenetic development and cumulative change. Some methods reviewed were developed for captive studies, but have subsequently been adapted for application in the wild, or are useful for exploring a species' general propensity to learn and transmit information socially. We highlight several emerging 'rapid assessment' approaches-including camera trapping, passive acoustic monitoring, animal-borne tags, AI-assisted data mining and computer simulations-that should prove useful in addressing particularly urgent conservation needs. We conclude by considering how best to use this growing methodological toolkit in practice, to guide further research on animal social learning and cultures, and maximize conservation and policy impact.This article is part of the theme issue 'Animal culture: conservation in a changing world'.
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Registered trials
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.