Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials

Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Culture is critical in driving orangutan diet development past individual potentials Elliot Howard-Spink, Claudio Tennie, Tatang Mitra Setia, Deana Perawati, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6009246/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 24 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Human Behaviour → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Humans accumulate extensive repertoires of culturally-transmitted information, reaching breadths exceeding any individual’s innovation capacity (culturally-dependent repertoires). It is unclear whether other animals require social learning to acquire adult-like breadths of information in the wild, including by key developmental milestones, or if animals are capable of constructing their knowledge repertoires primarily through independent exploration. We investigated whether social learning mediates orangutans' diet-repertoire development, by translating an extensive dataset describing wild orangutans’ behavior into an empirically-validated experimental simulation. Diets only reliably developed to adult-like breadths when simulated immatures benefitted from multiple forms of social learning. Moreover, social learning was required for diets to reach adult-like breadths by the maximum age immatures become independent from their mothers. Social learning is therefore integral for the timing and outcomes of orangutans’ broad-scale diet learning, demonstrating that culture can profoundly influence other animals’ development. We discuss prospective avenues for researching cultural-repertoire-building in hominids and other species. Biological sciences/Zoology/Animal behaviour Biological sciences/Evolution/Cultural evolution Biological sciences/Ecology/Behavioural ecology Social science/Anthropology/Biological anthropology animal culture social learning Pongo abelii Sumatran orangutan diet culturally-dependent repertoire Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SIDietRepertoireDevelopmentforSubmission.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 24 Nov, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Human Behaviour → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6009246","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":433006374,"identity":"e6001d88-0e3f-40ce-9d49-cfc3d4a74841","order_by":0,"name":"Elliot 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