Do Animals Learn?

Learning is a permanent change in behavior that is derived from experience. We, as human beings are lifelong learners picking up our lessons through three main types of learning- classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. So is this ability to learn restricted to Homo sapiens? Definitely not. Scientists have met diligent learners throughout the animal kingdom; from invertebrates to the primates.

So how do animals learn? One of the multiple ways of learning in animals is observational learning or social learning. This kind of learning occurs through close observation of a “demonstrator” followed by “imitation” of the demonstrated behavior.

Albert Bandura, a pioneer in this field, remarks that observational learning demands considerable intelligence. Firstly, the individual must pay attention to the demonstrator, then the observer must “remember” what the demonstrator did, and finally, it must be motivated enough to perform this behavior. Bandura especially noted the distinction between simple imitation, which is copying the behavior at the same time it is performed to deferred imitation, or observational learning, where an observed behavior is stored in memory and performed at a later time. This kind of learning is an evolutionary trade-off between acquiring first-hand information at the risk of an individual and learning that same information socially with less cost to the individual but with the risk of inaccuracy. As we often observe, animals acquire behavioral traits from social learning, but whether or not these acquired traits last across generations will depend on their rewards, context, and other cultural factors.

An interesting example of observational learning was once noticed in Japanese macaques. A group of researchers had started to leave sweet potatoes on a sandy beach to bring the macaques out of their forests. In the beginning, these macaques dusted the sand off the potatoes and ate them. This continued for a while till a female macaque came along and washed her sweet potato in the ocean. This rewarding behavior (who wouldn’t want spotlessly clean sweet potatoes?) was gradually observed and imitated by the other macaques. Soon enough the entire troop was washing their sweet potatoes in the ocean.

Young song sparrows are another curious case. They do not develop an adult song in their first autumn. They spend their first autumn, closely listening to the songs of their adults, identifying its details, and creating a song template from it. And when the next spring comes along, the song sparrows are ready as ever to sing their heart out. This example shows us a clear distinction period between observation and imitation.

Hence, from monkeys, pigeons, dolphins, to song sparrows, we find enthusiastic learners interested in real-life applications and practical utilities. So maybe our intuitions were right, we are the only group of bored students in the world.