Callitrichidae is a unique primate family not only in terms of the large number of food transfers to infants but also for the prevalence of transfers that are initiated by the adults. It has been hypothesized that, as well as provisioning infants, callitrichid food transfers might function to teach the receiver what food types to eat. If food provisioning has a teaching function, we would expect successful food transfers to be more likely with food types that are novel to the juveniles. We would also expect juveniles to learn about foods from those transfers. We introduced different types of food (some familiar, some novel) to wild groups of golden lion tamarins ( Leontopithecus rosalia ). While novel foods were not more successfully transferred than familiar food in the experiment, transfers were more successful (i.e., the receiver obtained food) when the donor had previous experience with that food. Moreover, we found evidence suggesting that food transfers influenced the future foraging choices of juveniles. Our findings are consistent with the first and third criteria of the functional definition of teaching, which requires that tutors (the adults) modify their behavior in the presence of a naïve individual (a juvenile), and that the naïve individual learns from the modified behavior of the demonstrator. Our findings are also consistent with the provisioning function of food transfer. Social learning seems to play an important role in the development of young tamarins’ foraging preferences.

中文翻译：

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食物转移在野生金狮狨 (Leontopithecus rosalia) 中的作用：支持信息和营养假说

Callitrichidae 是一个独特的灵长类动物家族，不仅在大量食物转移给婴儿方面，而且在由成年人发起的转移方面也很普遍。据推测，除了给婴儿提供食物外，callitrichid 食物转移可能会教接受者吃什么类型的食物。如果食物供应具有教学功能，我们预计食物转移成功的可能性更大，食物类型对青少年来说是新奇的。我们还希望青少年从这些转移中了解食物。我们向野生金狮狨 (Leontopithecus rosalia) 介绍了不同类型的食物（有些是熟悉的，有些是新的）。虽然在实验中新食物的转移并不比熟悉的食物更成功，但转移更成功（即，接受者获得食物），当捐赠者以前有过使用该食物的经验时。此外，我们发现有证据表明食物转移影响了幼鱼未来的觅食选择。我们的发现与教学功能定义的第一个和第三个标准一致，这要求导师（成人）在一个幼稚的个体（青少年）在场的情况下改变他们的行为，并且幼稚的个体从改变后的行为中学习示威者。我们的发现也与食物转移的供给功能一致。社会学习似乎在年轻狨猴觅食偏好的发展中发挥着重要作用。我们的研究结果与教学功能定义的第一和第三个标准一致，即要求导师（成人）在一个幼稚的个体（青少年）在场的情况下改变他们的行为，并且幼稚的个体从改变后的行为中学习示威者。我们的发现也与食物转移的供给功能一致。社会学习似乎在年轻狨猴觅食偏好的发展中发挥着重要作用。我们的研究结果与教学功能定义的第一和第三个标准一致，即要求导师（成人）在一个幼稚的个体（青少年）在场的情况下改变他们的行为，并且幼稚的个体从改变后的行为中学习示威者。我们的发现也与食物转移的供给功能一致。社会学习似乎在年轻狨猴觅食偏好的发展中发挥着重要作用。我们的发现也与食物转移的供给功能一致。社会学习似乎在年轻狨猴觅食偏好的发展中发挥着重要作用。我们的发现也与食物转移的供给功能一致。社会学习似乎在年轻狨猴觅食偏好的发展中发挥着重要作用。