Suaq's 21 young orangutans widen the diet by watching
At Suaq Balimbing, researchers logged close watching in 21 youngsters. A Science study finds that youngsters who explore little on their own can partly compensate through social learning. Independence comes at about 8.5 years. Nautilus reported the same 21 animals, with social learning about 5 times more common than individual learning.
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21 youngsters at Suaq Balimbing
Revathe Thillaikumar at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and colleagues watched wild orangutans at Suaq Balimbing in Sumatra. They logged close watching of foods and objects in 21 youngsters. A Science study finds that youngsters who explore little on their own can partly compensate through social learning. Nautilus reported a Science study of 21 immature orangutans at Suaq Balimbing. Social learning was about 5 times more common than individual learning. The page is dated 24 September.[1], [2]
Independence at 8.5 years, peering for 2.5 hours
Independence comes at about 8.5 years. Diet breadth was estimated for 13 of those youngsters from hours in which they fed. Individuals who both watched others and explored alone reached the broadest diets. Nautilus reported that peering was tied to exploration for about 2.5 hours. That duration is on the Nautilus page, not in the New Scientist summary used here. The 5 times figure is also Nautilus's.[1], [2]
Compensation, not a full adult menu
The New Scientist account keeps the compensation claim inside the 21 youngsters: those who explore little on their own can partly compensate through social learning. The broadest diets belong to youngsters who both watched and explored. The page does not say every one of the 21 reached an adult menu, and it does not put the fivefold rate on this account. Nautilus keeps the 21 animals, the Suaq Balimbing site and the Science journal, and it adds the 5 times rate and the 2.5 hour link. Both pages are dated 24 September. The shared development is the Science study of 21 young orangutans at Suaq, not a new field site and not a different count of animals. The reader sees 21 youngsters, Suaq Balimbing and the journal Science on both pages. The 8.5 year independence age and diet breadth for 13 youngsters stay on New Scientist. The 5 times rate and the 2.5 hour link stay on Nautilus. Compensation is for youngsters who explore little on their own. There is no adult-menu promise. The broadest diets belong to youngsters who both watched and explored. The Sumatra site is the same. The animal count stays at 21. Nothing in either page changes that count.[1], [2]
