Social communication about unpalatable foods in tamarins (Saguinus oedipus).
Many monkeys show social facilitation in sampling novel, palatable foods but not in avoiding unpalatable foods. Cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) socially learned to avoid a preferred food when it was made unpalatable but showed no aversion toward a food not made unpalatable. Only 33% sampled unpalatable tuna, and few sampled it again. In 3 of 8 groups, the socially induced aversion was long lasting, at least 15 weeks after food was made palatable again. Potential cues include facial reactions of disgust, alarm-call vocalizations, and reduction in food-associated calls. Behavioral coordination in cooperative infant care, communication about food, and well-established social relationships may explain social avoidance of unpalatable foods in tamarins and the absence of social avoidance in less cooperative species.
Snowdon
Charles T
CT
Dept of Psychology.
Boe
Carla Y
CY
Dept of Psychology.
D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005502:Food; D005868:Gestures; D012452:Saguinus / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D014828:Vocalization, Animal