# What might social learning in birds tell us about other animals?

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**Created:** [March 28, 2025, 1:46pm UTC](https://spaceisameansofproduction.discourse.group/t/what-might-social-learning-in-birds-tell-us-about-other-animals/269 "2025-03-28T13:46:04Z")\
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**Author:** ![Feminist\_Lo](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex010/user_avatar/spaceisameansofproduction.discourse.group/feminist_lo/32/5_2.png) [@Feminist\_Lo](https://spaceisameansofproduction.discourse.group/u/Feminist_Lo)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 1:46pm UTC](https://spaceisameansofproduction.discourse.group/t/what-might-social-learning-in-birds-tell-us-about-other-animals/269/1 "2025-03-28T13:46:04Z")

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Social learning is learning via observation of, or interaction with, another animal [[1](https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002904#pbio.3002904.ref001)]. This definition is broad, and as such social learning can include both the acquisition of novel behaviours to be used over the long-term, such as chimpanzees learning to use moss as a sponge to drink water [[2](https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002904#pbio.3002904.ref002)], and the short-term influence of social information on an individual’s behaviour [[3](https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002904#pbio.3002904.ref003)], such as bumblebees feeding from the same flower as conspecifics [[4](https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002904#pbio.3002904.ref004)]. Social learning is a powerful way for individuals to acquire adaptive information or behaviours without paying the cost of potentially risky and time-consuming individual exploration or trial and error learning. However, while social learning is widespread in the animal kingdom, theoretical models predict that in order to be adaptive it should not be used indiscriminately, but rather that individuals will follow “social learning strategies” dictating when, what, and from whom they learn.

> **[Social learning is triggered by environmental cues in immigrant birds](https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.3002904)**
>
> After dispersal, what cues trigger social learning in immigrants? This Primer explores a new PLOS Biology study in wild-caught great tits which suggests that changes in the physical environment, rather than the social environment, are key in...