RT Journal Article
T1 Experimental evidence for action imitation in killer whales (Orcinus orca)
A1 Abramson, José Z.
A1 Hernández Lloreda, María Victoria
A1 Call, Josep
A1 Colmenares Gil, Fernando
AB Comparative experimental studies of imitative learning have focused mainly on primates and birds. However, cetaceans are promising candidates to display imitative learning as they have evolved in socioecological settings that have selected for large brains, complex sociality, and coordinated predatory tactics. Here we tested imitative learning in killer whales, Orcinus orca. We used a ‘do-as-other-does’ paradigm in which 3 subjects witnessed a conspecific demonstrator’s performance that included 15 familiar and 4 novel behaviours. The three subjects (1) learned the copy command signal ‘Do that’ very quickly, that is, 20 trials on average; (2) copied 100 % of the demonstrator’s familiar and novel actions; (3) achieved full matches in the first attempt for 8–13 familiar behaviours (out of 15) and for the 2 novel behaviours (out of 2) in one subject; and (4) took no longer than 8 trials to accurately copy any familiar behaviour, and no longer than 16 trials to copy any novel behaviour. This study provides experimental evidence for body imitation, including production imitation, in killer whales that is comparable to that observed in dolphins tested under similar conditions. These findings suggest that imitative learning may underpin some of the group-specific traditions reported in killer whales in the field.
PB Springer Link
SN 1435-9448
YR 2012
FD 2012
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/98202
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/98202
LA spa
NO José Z. Abramson, Victoria Hernández-Lloreda,  Josep Call,Fernando Colmenares .Experimental evidence for action imitation in killer whales (Orcinus orca). Anim Cogn.2012 Aug 9; (16): 11-22
DS Docta Complutense
RD 17 abr 2025