The evolutionary roots of innovation
Final Report Abstract
In this project, I aimed to study: (1) which factors affect intra-specific innovation in primates, and (2) whether differences in dominance style predict inter-specific variation in innovation across phylogenetically close species. Moreover, Dr. Karimullah aimed to develop new protocols to assess orientation to humans in macaques, to assess the quality and frequency of primate interactions with humans, and the frequency of potentially conflictual situations between human and non-human primates. Overall, despite some slight deviations and several challenges, Dr. Karimullah and I could successfully meet the objectives of our project. I could implement the tasks I had planned, conducting behavioural observations and cognitive tasks on around 250 individuals. Although only a minor part of these data has already been published, the other data is currently being analyzed. Although only the final analyses will allow us to draw more solid conclusions, the results of this project seem to suggest important inter-individual differences in the ability to innovate, which mainly depend on personality traits and behavioural strategies used. Our study also revealed inter-specific differences, which only partially reflect traditional dominance style categories. This project provides a novel perspective to the study of innovation, and constitutes an important contribution to the study of its evolutionary origins.
Publications
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2019. A meta-analysis of inter-individual differences in innovation. Animal Behaviour, 155, 257-268
Amici, Federica; Widdig, Anja; Lehmann, Julia & Majolo, Bonaventura
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2019. An evolutionary perspective on the development of primate sociality. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 73, 116
Amici, Federica & Widdig, Anja
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2019. Growing into adulthood – how social bonds develop in immature rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 73, 18
Amici, Federica; Kulik, Lars; Langos, Doreen & Widdig, Anja
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(2020) Innovation in wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). Scientific reports 10 (1) 4597
Amici, Federica; Caicoya, Alvaro L.; Majolo, Bonaventura & Widdig, Anja
