@article{item_2463250,
title = {{Contextual imitation of intransitive body actions in a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas): A "do as other does" study}},
author = {Abramson, Jos\'e Z. and Hern\'andez-Lloreda, M\textordfeminine Victoria and Esteban, Jos\'e-Antonio and Colmenares, Fernando and Aboitiz, Francisco and Call, Josep},
language = {eng},
issn = {1932-6203},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0178906},
publisher = {Public Library of Science},
address = {San Francisco, CA},
year = {2017},
abstract = {{Cetaceans are remarkable for exhibiting group-specific behavioral traditions or cultures in several behavioral domains (e.g., calls, behavioral tactics), and the question of whether they can be acquired socially, for example through imitative processes, remains open. Here we used a \textquotedblleftDo as other does\textquotedblright paradigm to experimentally study the ability of a beluga to imitate familiar intransitive (body-oriented) actions demonstrated by a conspecific. The participant was first trained to copy three familiar behaviors on command (training phase) and then was tested for her ability to generalize the learned \textquotedblleftDo as the other does\textquotedblright command to a different set of three familiar behaviors (testing phase). We found that the beluga (1) was capable of learning the copy command signal \textquotedblleftDo what-the-other-does\textquotedblright; (2) exhibited high matching accuracy for trained behaviors (mean \textequals 84\textpercent of correct performance) after making the first successful copy on command; (3) copied successfully the new set of three familiar generalization behaviors that were untrained to the copy command (range of first copy \textequals 12 to 35 trials); and (4) deployed a high level of matching accuracy (mean \textequals 83\textpercent) after making the first copy of an untrained behavior on command. This is the first evidence of contextual imitation of intransitive (body-oriented) movements in the beluga and adds to the reported findings on production imitation of sounds in this species and production imitation of sounds and motor actions in several cetaceans, especially dolphins and killer whales. Collectively these findings highlight the notion that cetaceans have a natural propensity at skillfully and proficiently matching the sounds and body movements demonstrated by conspecifics, a fitness-enhancing propensity in the context of cooperative hunting and anti-predatory defense tactics, and of alliance formation strategies that have been documented in these species\textquoteright natural habitats. Future work should determine if the beluga can also imitate novel motor actions.}},
journal = {{PLoS One}},
volume = {12},
number = {6},
eid = {e0178906},
}