Study
Experimentally induced innovations lead to persistent culture via conformity in wild birds
Aplin, L. M.; Farine, D. R.; Morand-Ferron, J.; Cockburn, A.; Thornton, A.; Sheldon, B. C.
Nature, 2014
In each of several wild great tit sub-populations, two birds were trained to open a puzzle box by sliding a door one way; in others, the opposite way; controls had none. Boxes were returned to the woods and every visit logged automatically by tag.
- Studied in
- Parus major
- Sample size
- eight wild sub-populations with tagged individuals
The trained solution spread through each sub-population and remained the dominant method, persisting across years and through substantial population turnover. Birds that discovered the alternative solution tended to abandon it in favour of the local majority.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Arbitrary innovations can establish and persist as local traditions in wild animals, maintained by a conformity bias.
How NatureHQ reads it
The one experimental demonstration of animal culture on this list, and it is worth the distinction. The chimpanzee and whale cases are inferences from observation; this seeded an arbitrary behaviour into wild populations and watched a tradition form. The conformity result is the sharper half: birds that had found a perfectly good alternative gave it up to match their neighbours, which is a social effect rather than a practical one, and is one of the mechanisms that makes traditions stable enough to be called culture.
- The behaviour is arbitrary and low-cost, which is what makes conformity easy to detect and may exaggerate it.
- Automatic logging records visits, not observation of another bird.
- Persistence was measured over a small number of years.
Teaching two birds a trick, and coming back two years later
Can an arbitrary behaviour be deliberately introduced into a wild population and become a lasting local tradition?
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Nature PortfolioPublished in a Nature Portfolio journal.
Checked against Crossref on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-31.