Path of Science: International Electronic Scientific Journal

This article considers learning as one of the forms of the normal functioning of a social group. The article analyses and summarises modern literary publications on the peculiarities of social learning of representatives of the genus Corvus.

In the course of the analysis of modern scientific literature, it is found that social experience at an early age significantly affects the development of models of social interaction, which, in addition to parents, are influenced by the relationship with peers. Among peers, siblings have a high tolerance and socially positive behaviour. The influence of the social context also depends on the combination of male-male and male-female sexes. The female-female social coalition is a rare phenomenon among ravens, but there is evidence of such interaction, so that it can be identified as a promising area of research. Most of the analysed sources indicate that kinship ties increase the productivity of crows in terms of social learning in kin and interfamilial groups.

It is emphasised that the social and cognitive behaviour of representatives of the genus Corvus is due to the existence of neural memory mechanisms. Neural networks may integrate individual discrimination and control of social behaviour in memory-based dominance in ravens. Sex and aggressiveness are crucial as personal characteristics for dominance formation. Distinction explains individual differences in anxiety responses that have a social context.

The social learning of some members of the genus Corvus is clearly expressed in the ability to maintain cultural variations in vocalisation within the population and manufacturing tools for food production. The basic models of actions for using tools may have their evolutionary origin in food storage (caching). Individual learning by trial and error is considered a social learning component within kinship and between groups.

social learning; social behavior; kinship; memory; dominance; tools; vocalisation

Bandini, E., & Tennie, C. (2020). Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use. PeerJ, 8, e9877. doi: 10.7717/peerj.9877

Bluff, L. A., Kacelnik, A., & Rutz, C. (2010). Vocal culture in New Caledonian crows Corvus moneduloides. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 101(4), 767–776. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2010.01527.x

Blum, C. R., Fitch, W. T., & Bugnyar, T. (2020). Rapid Learning and Long-Term Memory for Dangerous Humans in Ravens (Corvus corax). Frontiers in Psychology, 11. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.581794

Boucherie, P. H., Blum, C., & Bugnyar, T. (2020). Effect of rearing style on the development of social behaviour in young ravens (Corvus corax). Ethology, 126(6), 595–609. doi: 10.1111/eth.13010

Boucherie, P. H., Sosa, S., Pasquaretta, C., & Dufour, V. (2016). A longitudinal network analysis of social dynamics in rookscorvus frugilegus: repeated group modifications do not affect social network in captive rooks. Current Zoology, zow083. doi: 10.1093/cz/zow083

Federspiel, I. G., Schmitt, V., Schuster, R., Rockenbach, C., Braun, A., Loretto, M.-C., Michels, C., Fischer, J., Mussweiler, T., & Bugnyar, T. (2023). Are You Better Than Me? Social Comparisons in Carrion Crows (Corvus corone). doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2500378/v1

Gallego-Abenza, M., Boucherie, P. H., & Bugnyar, T. (2022). Early social environment affects attention to social cues in juvenile common ravens, Corvus corax. Royal Society Open Science, 9(6). doi: 10.1098/rsos.220132

Ghirlanda, S., & Lind, J. (2017). ‘Aesop's fable’ experiments demonstrate trial-and-error learning in birds, but no causal understanding. Animal Behaviour, 123, 239–247. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.10.029

Holtmann, B., Buskas, J., Steele, M., Sokolovskis, K., & Wolf, J. B. W. (2019). Dominance relationships and coalitionary aggression against conspecifics in female carrion crows. Scientific Reports, 9(1). doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-52177-7

Izawa, E.-I., & Watanabe, S. (2008). Formation of linear dominance relationship in captive jungle crows (Corvus macrorhynchos): Implications for individual recognition. Behavioural Processes, 78(1), 44–52. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2007.12.010

Kenward, B., Schloegl, C., Rutz, C., Weir, A. A. S., Bugnyar, T., & Kacelnik, A. (2011). On the evolutionary and ontogenetic origins of tool-oriented behaviour in New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 102(4), 870–877. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01613.x

Loretto, M. C., Fraser, O. N., & Bugnyar, T. (2012). Ontogeny of Social Relations and Coalition Formation in Common Ravens (Corvus corax). International journal of comparative psychology, 25(3), 180–194.

McCarthy, W. (2022). Something to Crow About: Birds with Tools. Concept. Phychology, 45.

Nishizawa, K., Izawa, E.-I., & Watanabe, S. (2011). Neural-activity mapping of memory-based dominance in the crow: neural networks integrating individual discrimination and social behaviour control. Neuroscience, 197, 307–319. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.09.001

Obozova, T. A., Smirnova, A. A., & Zorina, Z. A. (2018). Early Ontogeny of the Behavior of Young in Large-Billed Crows (Corvus macrorhynchos) in Their Natural Habitat. Biology Bulletin, 45(8), 794–802. doi: 10.1134/s1062359018080125

Penndorf, J., & Aplin, L. (2020). Environmental and life history factors, but not age, influence social learning about food: a meta-analysis. Animal Behaviour, 167, 161–176. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.07.001

Roy, T., & Bhat, A. (2017). Social learning in a maze? Contrasting individual performance among wild zebrafish when associated with trained and naïve conspecifics. Behavioural Processes, 144, 51–57. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.09.004

Schwab, C., Bugnyar, T., Schloegl, C., & Kotrschal, K. (2008). Enhanced social learning between siblings in common ravens, Corvus corax. Animal Behaviour, 75(2), 501–508. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.06.006

Severynovska, O., Pakhomov, O., & Rybalchenko, V. (2010). Etolohiia (osnovy povedinky tvaryn) [Ethology (basics of animal behaviour)]. Dnipro: Vydavnytstvo dnipropetrovskoho natsionalnoho universytetu (in Ukrainian).

Stöwe, M., & Kotrschal, K. (2007). Behavioural phenotypes may determine whether social context facilitates or delays novel object exploration in ravens (Corvus corax). Journal of Ornithology, 148(S2), 179–184. doi: 10.1007/s10336-007-0145-1

Stöwe, M., Bugnyar, T., Heinrich, B., & Kotrschal, K. (2006). Effects of Group Size on Approach to Novel Objects in Ravens (Corvus corax). Ethology, 112(11), 1079–1088. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2006.01273.x

Stöwe, M., Bugnyar, T., Loretto, M.-C., Schloegl, C., Range, F., & Kotrschal, K. (2006). Novel object exploration in ravens (Corvus corax): Effects of social relationships. Behavioural Processes, 73(1), 68–75. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2006.03.015

Uomini, N., & Hunt, G. (2017). A new tool-using bird to crow about. Learning & Behavior, 45(3), 205–206. doi: 10.3758/s13420-017-0262-5

Wascher, C. A. F., Allen, K., & Szipl, G. (2021). Learning and motor inhibitory control in crows and domestic chickens. Royal Society Open Science, 8(10). doi: 10.1098/rsos.210504