Editing Ethology (section)

===== Social transmission =====

{{see also|Cultural transmission in animals}}

A well-documented example of social transmission of a behaviour occurred in a group of [[macaque]]s on [[Hachijojima]] Island, Japan. The macaques lived in the inland forest until the 1960s, when a group of researchers started giving them potatoes on the beach: soon, they started venturing onto the beach, picking the potatoes from the sand, and cleaning and eating them.<ref name=WilsonSociobiology>{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Edward O. |author-link=Edward O. Wilson |title=Sociobiology: the new synthesis |page=170 |year=2000 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-00089-6}}</ref> About one year later, an individual was observed bringing a potato to the sea, putting it into the water with one hand, and cleaning it with the other. This behaviour was soon expressed by the individuals living in contact with her; when they gave birth, this behaviour was also expressed by their young—a form of social transmission.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/japanese_macaque.htm |title=Japanese Macaque – Macaca fuscata |publisher=Blueplanetbiomes.org |access-date=2011-11-08}}</ref>