Social transmission of food handling in the context of triadic interactions between adults and young canaries (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Serinus canaria</Emphasis>)

We studied the factors that enhance food recognition and consumption in young canaries when confronted with adults. In contrast to previous studies on canaries, in which social transmission of food habits was studied in the context of dyadic interactions (one juvenile–one adult), we proposed a more realistic framework in which young canaries were studied in the context of triadic interactions, free or not, with adults of both sexes. We found that during free interactions, the young bird only eats with a familiar male and that this association enhances the social transmission of seed handling. When the juvenile was separated from the adults by a transparent partition, it only learned to husk seed if it was present at the feeder at the same time as a familiar adult acting as a demonstrator. The presence of adults that are familiar but do not act as demonstrators does not facilitate social transmission of handling. However, the presence of a familiar, demonstrating female had also no effect on this transmission. Coordination of the actions of the experienced bird and of the naive subject is required for social transmission to occur. Action coordination does not depend solely on the level of familiarity between partners but also on the role played by the demonstrator (here, the adult male) that looks after the juvenile during its transition towards independence.