Social learning in New Caledonian crows: a diffusion experiment on 14 wild-caught individuals in aviaries in 2013

Data were collected on 14 New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) that were caught in the wild in New Caledonia in May and June 2013 and temporarily brought into aviaries for testing during June-July 2013. We tested the order in which individuals in three groups interacted with a novel foraging task and what observers saw. We recorded which part of the apparatus individuals interacted with, testing day (of 8), interaction start and end time, behavior, individual ID, whether they obtained the food or not, who was watching, and …Will’s columns. The purpose of the data was to determine whether watching another attempt or solve the apparatus at a particular location influenced the order of the locations observers interacted and whether observation of others decreased their own latency of interaction at that location and success at obtaining the food.

本数据集采集自2013年5月至6月于新喀里多尼亚野外捕获的14只新喀里多尼亚乌鸦（Corvus moneduloides），并于2013年6月至7月暂养于笼舍中开展实验测试。我们针对三组实验个体，测试其与新型觅食任务交互的先后顺序，以及观测者所观测到的相关行为。我们记录了以下信息：个体与实验装置的交互部位、8个测试日中的当日编号、交互的起始与结束时间、行为表现、个体标识号、是否成功获取食物、在场观测者的身份，以及……Will’s columns。本数据集的研究目的为探明两个核心问题：其一，在特定位置观测其他个体尝试或完成该实验装置操作的行为，是否会影响观测者自身交互该位置的先后顺序；其二，对同类行为的观测是否会缩短观测者自身在该位置的交互潜伏期，并提升其成功获取食物的概率。