Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:39:54.287Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On the concept of animal innovation and the challenge of studying innovation in the wild

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2007

Grant Ramsey
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN [email protected]://philosophy.nd.edu/people/all/profiles/ramsey-grant/index.shtml
Meredith L. Bastian
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University, Durham, NC [email protected]://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/BAA/grad/mlb22
Carel van Schaik
Affiliation:
Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland. [email protected]://www.aim.unizh.ch/Members/vanschaik.html

Abstract

The commentaries have both drawn out the implications of, and challenged, our definition and operationalization of innovation. In this response, we reply to these concerns, discuss the differences between our operationalization and the preexisting operationalization if innovation, and make suggestions for the advancement of the challenging and exciting field of animal innovation.

Type
Authors' Response
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baldwin, J. M. (1896b) Heredity and instinct. Science New Series 3:438–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Darwin, C. R. (1871) The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex, vol. 2, 1st edition. John Murray.Google Scholar
Healy, S. D. & Rowe, C. (2007) A critique of comparative studies of brain size. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 274:453–64.Google ScholarPubMed
Lefebvre, L., Gaxiola, A., Dawson, S., Timmermans, S., Rosza, L. & Kabai, P. (1998) Feeding innovations and forebrain size in Australian birds. Behaviour 135:1077–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lefebvre, L., Reader, S. M. & Sol, D. (2004) Brains, innovations and evolution in birds and primates. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 63(4):233–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lefebvre, L., Whittle, P., Lascaris, E. & Finkelstein, A. (1997) Feeding innovations and forebrain size in birds. Animal Behaviour 53:549–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menzel, E. W. Jr. (1966) Reponsiveness to objects in free-ranging Japanese monkeys. Behaviour 26:130–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morand-Ferron, J., Lefebvre, L., Reader, S. M., Sol, D. & Elvin, S. (2004) Dunking behaviour in Carib grackles. Animal Behaviour 68:1267–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reader, S. M. (2002) Social intelligence, innovation and enhanced brain size in primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 99:4436–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reader, S. M. (2003a) Animal innovation: An introduction. In: Animal innovation, ed. Reader, S. M. & Laland, K. N., pp. 335. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reader, S. M. & MacDonald, K. (2003) Environmental variability and primate behavioural flexibility. In: Animal innovation, ed. Reader, S. M. & Laland, K. N., pp. 83116. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sol, D., Duncan, R. P., Blackburn, T. M., Cassey, P. & Lefebvre, L. (2005a) Big brains, enhanced cognition, and response of birds to novel environments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102:5460–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Timmermans, S., Lefebvre, L., Boire, D. & Basu, P. (2000) Relative size of the hyperstriatum ventrale is the best predictor of feeding innovation rate in birds. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 56: 196203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Schaik, C. P., Deaner, R. O. & Merrill, M. Y. (1999) The conditions for tool use in primates: Implications for the evolution of material culture. Journal of Human Evolution 36:719–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Schaik, C. P., van Noordwijk, M. A. & Wich, S. A. (2006) Innovation in wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii). Behaviour 143(7):839–76.Google Scholar