Miller et al. Social learning in Critically Endangered Bali myna

Social learning is an important skill for adaptation, particularly in relation to rapidly changing environments for threatened species, and ultimately impacts on survival. Bali myna (Leucopsar Rothschildi) is a Critically Endangered species, endemic to Bali, Indonesia, and the focus of conservation initiatives, including reintroduction to the wild. This study tested social learning in 25 captive (adult and subadult) Bali myna. In four conditions, subjects observed a model (first bird to act) interacting with various (natural & artificial) stimuli and then engaged in problem-solving (e.g. flip bark chips, remove lid from bottle-top) to obtain rewards in low or higher-risk contexts. We tested for: 1) social facilitation, i.e. influence of conspecific presence, and age; 2) enhancement, i.e. attending to same stimuli location or type as model; 3) individual contextual repeatability i.e. consistency. Social context and age affected interactions, where socially-housed birds and subadults solved tasks less frequently than singly-housed birds and adults. We found enhancement effects, i.e. observers attending to model behaviour. Individuals were consistent between conditions and, over a 2-year period, across social learning, and (from a previous study) innovation and neophobia abilities. These findings will prove valuable to optimising conservation efforts, such as pre-release training strategies.