Fish pool their experience to solve problems collectively

Mike M. Webster*, Andrew Carl Zanton Whalen, Kevin Neville Laland

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Access to information is a key advantage of grouping. Although experienced animals can lead others to solve problems, less is known about whether partially informed individuals can pool experiences to overcome challenges collectively. Here we provide evidence of such ‘experience-pooling’. We presented shoals of sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) with a two-stage foraging task requiring them to find and access hidden food. Individual fish were either inexperienced or had knowledge of just one of the stages. Shoals containing individuals trained in each of the stages pooled their expertise, allowing more fish to access the food, and to do so more rapidly, compared with other shoal compositions. Strong social effects were identified: the presence of experienced individuals increased the likelihood of untrained fish completing each stage. These findings demonstrate that animal groups can integrate individual experience to solve multi-stage problems, and have implications for our understanding of social foraging, migration and social systems.
Original languageEnglish
Article number0135
JournalNature Ecology and Evolution
Volume1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 18 Apr 2017

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