Wild jackdaws learn social tolerance to exploit new information

Abstract

Social tolerance is crucial in facilitating the evolution of cooperation and social cognition, but it is unknown whether animals can optimise their social tolerance through learning. We presented wild jackdaws (Corvus monedula) with a novel social information problem using automated feeders: to access food, adults had to inhibit their tendency to displace juveniles and instead show tolerance by occupying an adjacent perch. Adults learned to tolerate juveniles, generalising across juveniles as a cohort and in an unrewarded context, demonstrating learning of a new information-use strategy.