page_title: Social learning in animals
section_title: Imitation and emulation
hierarchical_section_title: Social learning in animals / Social learning mechanisms / Imitation and emulation
caption_attribution_description: Orang Utan eating a mature Coconut.
context_page_description: Social learning refers to learning that is facilitated by observation of, or interaction with, another animal or its products. Social learning has been observed in a variety of animal taxa, such as insects, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals.
  Social learning is fundamentally different from individual learning, or asocial learning, which involves learning the appropriate responses to an environment through experience and trial and error. Though asocial learning may result in the acquisition of reliable information, it is often costly for the individual to obtain. Therefore, individuals that are able to capitalize on other individuals' self-acquired information may experience a fitness benefit. However, because social learning relies on the actions of others rather than direct contact, it can be unreliable. This is especially true in variable environments, where appropriate behaviors may change frequently. Consequently, social learning is most beneficial in stable environments, in which predators, food, and other stimuli are not likely to change rapidly.
  When social learning is actively facilitated by an experienced individual, it is classified as teaching.
context_section_description: In imitation, a learner observes a unique action performed by the demonstrator and learns to reproduce the behavior exactly. (This differs from "copying" in which the learner reproduces that same action but this is performed with a different part of the body e.g. the left paw is used instead of the right paw.) Researchers conducted studies with marmosets to observe how they learned to access food. When groups of marmosets observed a demonstrator removing the lid with his hands or mouth, they also used only their hands or mouth, respectively. Thus, the marmosets completely imitated their demonstrators. Gorillas and chimpanzees also utilize imitation to learn food handling skills.
  Emulation is similar to imitation in that after observing a demonstrator interacting with objects in its environment, an observer is more likely to act to bring about a similar effect on those objects, but not necessarily through the same method. In a study with orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), researchers demonstrated that tool use was passed down through emulation. Humans demonstrated the use of a tool to a group of orangutans and then presented orangutans with the same tools and desirable, but out-of-reach, food. Orangutans used the tools to obtain food, but they did not use the same exact methods as the human demonstrators. This suggests that subjects paid attention to the general functional relationship between the task and the result, but did not adhere to the actual methods of tool use demonstrated, and were thus not imitating.
  In a naturalistic environment, imitative learning is seen in many animal species.  Many species of songbirds learn their songs through imitation, and it has been hypothesized that chimpanzees' understanding of intentionality of action in other members of a social group influences their imitative behaviors.
caption: Orangutan eating a coconut
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