Vos, J. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2025

Third-party imitation is not restricted to humans

Imitation of cultural practices is ubiquitous in humans and often involves faithful copying of intransitive (i.e., non-object directed) gestures and societal norms which play a crucial role in human cultural evolution. Apart from learning these directly from a tutor, humans often learn passively as third-party observers from the interactions of two or more individuals. Whether third-party imitation has evolved outside humans remains unknown. In the current study, we investigated whether undomesticated blue-throated macaws could imitate in a third-party setting. A naive test group (N=6) passively observed a conspecific demonstrator performing improbable intransitive actions in response to specific human gestural commands. Directly afterwards, the observer received the same gestural commands and performance-contingent rewards. An equally naive control group (N=5) was tested correspondingly, in the absence of third-party demonstrations. The test group learned more target actions (mean=4.16 versus mean=2.2) in response to the specific commands, significantly faster and performed them more accurately than the control group. The test group also spontaneously imitated some of the actions even before they received any gestural commands or rewards. Our findings show that third-party imitation, even for intransitive actions, exists outside humans, allowing for rapid adaption to group specific behaviours and possibly cultural conventions in parrots.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2022

Quantifying the impacts of an invasive weed on habitat quality and prey availability for tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus) in urban wetlands

Invasive plants are a threat to natural ecosystems worldwide with urban wetlands being some of the most susceptible and highly modified environments of all. The tiger snake (Notechis scutatus) is a top predator that persists in urban wetlands in south-western Australia, many of which have been degraded by introduced kikuyu grass (Cenchrus clandestinus). To evaluate the potential impact of kikuyu grass on habitat quality for western tiger snakes we quantified the structural features of habitats within wetlands degraded by kikuyu grass and compared them to wetlands with native vegetation, examined tiger snake prey availability, assessed predation risk for juvenile snakes using clay models, and measured the thermal quality of the vegetation. Proliferation of kikuyu grass reduced habitat structural heterogeneity by reducing available bare ground and increasing vegetation density. This homogenisation of habitat structure had little effect on the predation risk for juveniles or the thermal properties of tiger snake shelter sites; however, one key snake prey species, the motorbike frog, had significantly lower abundance in the most impacted habitat. Habitat types with more structural complexity also offered tiger snakes more stable thermal regimes and lower predation risk. These findings indicate that the current extent of kikuyu grass invasion offers overall similar habitat quality for tiger snakes and may contribute to their persistence in urban wetlands, but they, along with their anuran prey, may befit from some increased habitat structural complexity in open areas.

ecology↗