Learning where and when Large ungulate migrations occur across continents and inspire curiosity about how these animals know when to leave and where to go. Jesmer et al. took advantage of regional extinctions and reintroductions of several North American ungulate species to determine the role of learning in migrations (see the Perspective by Festa-Bianchet). Reintroduced populations of bighorn sheep and moose did not migrate as historical herds had. However, after several decades, newly established herds were better able to track the emergence of vegetation in the environment and were increasingly migratory. Thus, newly introduced animals learned about their environment and shared the information through social exchange. Science, this issue p. 1023; see also p. 972 Bighorn sheep and moose learn their migration routes through culture and experience. Ungulate migrations are assumed to stem from learning and cultural transmission of information regarding seasonal distribution of forage, but this hypothesis has not been tested empirically. We compared the migratory propensities of bighorn sheep and moose translocated into novel habitats with those of historical populations that had persisted for hundreds of years. Whereas individuals from historical populations were largely migratory, translocated individuals initially were not. After multiple decades, however, translocated populations gained knowledge about surfing green waves of forage (tracking plant phenology) and increased their propensity to migrate. Our findings indicate that learning and cultural transmission are the primary mechanisms by which ungulate migrations evolve. Loss of migration will therefore expunge generations of knowledge about the locations of high-quality forage and likely suppress population abundance.

中文翻译：

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有蹄类动物迁徙是通过文化传播的吗？来自易地动物的社会学习证据

了解大型有蹄类动物迁徙的地点和时间跨越大陆，激发人们对这些动物如何知道何时离开和去哪里的好奇心。杰斯默等人。利用几种北美有蹄类动物的区域灭绝和重新引入来确定学习在迁徙中的作用（参见 Festa-Bianchet 的观点）。重新引入的大角羊和驼鹿种群并没有像历史牧群那样迁移。然而，几十年后，新建立的畜群能够更好地追踪环境中植被的出现，并且越来越多地迁徙。因此，新引进的动物了解了它们的环境并通过社会交流分享了信息。科学，这个问题 p。1023; 另见第。972 只大角羊和驼鹿通过文化和经验了解它们的迁徙路线。有蹄类动物的迁徙被认为源于有关草料季节性分布的信息的学习和文化传播，但该假设尚未经过实证检验。我们将迁徙到新栖息地的大角羊和驼鹿的迁徙倾向与已经存在了数百年的历史种群的迁徙倾向进行了比较。来自历史种群的个体主要是迁徙的，而易地个体最初不是。然而，经过几十年的迁移，易地种群获得了有关冲浪草料（跟踪植物物候）的知识，并增加了迁移的倾向。我们的研究结果表明，学习和文化传播是有蹄类动物迁徙进化的主要机制。