Sl. Watson et al., EFFECTS OF MODELING AND LINEAGE ON FISHING BEHAVIOR IN THE SMALL-EARED BUSH-BABY (OTOLEMUR-GARNETTII), International journal of primatology, 15(4), 1994, pp. 507-519
Thirty-eight bushbabies (Otolemur garnettii) were subjects in an obser
vational learning study. We exposed them to one of three modeling cond
itions: (1) fishing model-one that actually performed fishing behavior
; (2) nonfishing model-one that performed as a model in every way exce
pt performance of fishing behavior; and (3) no model. We assessed them
with regard to latency to approach the fishbowl, latency to make an i
nitial fishing attempt, duration of time spent in the vicinity of the
fishbowls, and number of actual fishing attempts. Results indicate tha
t subjects that were exposed to either fishing or nonfishing models we
re faster to approach the fishbowls and spent more time in the vicinit
y of the fishbowls than animals in the no-model condition Lineage, i.
e., whether or not the animals' parents fished, rather than modeling c
ondition, was the best predictor of the latency to initial fishing att
empt and the number of attempts made.