Data and code from: Eight years of social and individual learning jointly drive ecological competence in orangutans
Data files
Aug 10, 2026 version files 5.77 MB
-
data_130_w_zeroes.txt
18.37 KB
-
data_145_w_zeroes.txt
18.19 KB
-
data_160_w_zeroes.txt
17.64 KB
-
data_70_w_zeroes.txt
18.41 KB
-
data_all_w_zeroes.txt
18.56 KB
-
data_dep_indep_exploration.txt
19.42 KB
-
estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_130.txt
688 B
-
estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_145.txt
694 B
-
estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_160.txt
690 B
-
estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_70.txt
693 B
-
knwn_fooditems.txt
4.73 MB
-
knwn_unk_fooditems.Rmd
3.88 KB
-
multivariate_peering_exploration_model_fulldata_w_observers.Rmd
66.15 KB
-
nonlinear_interaction_model_species_merged.Rmd
5.28 KB
-
nonlinear_interaction_model.Rmd
27.21 KB
-
README.md
11.23 KB
-
sampling_overlap.txt
12.28 KB
-
single_dendrogram_w_histogram_number.R
8.60 KB
-
time_to_independence.Rmd
18.77 KB
-
time_to_independence.txt
574.30 KB
-
unique_items_by_age.txt
148.65 KB
-
unk_fooditems.txt
45.19 KB
Abstract
Cultural learning permeates human skill and knowledge acquisition. To understand its significance for nonhuman animals, we must examine how social learning shapes the development of broad behavioral repertoires and operates alongside other forms of learning. We analyzed nearly seven thousand records of behavioral indicators of social and individual learning across wild orangutans’ eight-year dependency period to assess their combined effects on ecological competence relevant for post-independence survival. Social learning was five times more frequent than individual learning and influenced subsequent learning for hours. Immatures varied substantially in their learning propensities, and those with heightened social and individual learning propensities developed the most expansive diet profiles at independence. Our findings advance the science of cultural evolution by showing that multi-year social and individual learning synergistically shape great apes’ broad ecological competence.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.ncjsxkt8d
Description of the data and file structure
These files contain all code and data were used to investigate individual differences in social and individual learning and how they link to the developmental of ecological competence in Sumatran orangutans.
Code/software
All the data analyses were conducted using R (v 4.3.1). All packages used (including versions) are outlined in the Methods section of our manuscript. Please ensure that all versions are identical to those used in our analysis to expect identical results.
Installation time for R is relatively short (can be downloaded and installed within 1 hour). We recommend the use of RStudio for running R scripts (https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/). These softwares can be downloaded for free from the link provided above (installation time approx. 15-30 minutes each). In R, any required packages are noted at the beginning of the script. They can be installed into R using the code install.packages('PACKAGE'), where PACKAGE is the name of the desired package. They can then be run in the R script using the library('PACKAGE') command, which are already present in each R script.
The R scripts can be run in 5-10 minutes on laptops with high computing speed. All scripts can be executed in their current form.
1. time_to_independence.Rmd is an R Markdown file used to calculate the time point at which exploration events become independent of prior peering. Numbers of peering, individually initiated explorations (IIE), and socially initiated explorations (SIE) are summarized for each focal follow using this script.
Input files: time_to_independence.txt
2. multivariate_peering_exploration_model_fulldata_w_observers.Rmd is an R Markdown file used to run univariate models. U1-U4 and multivariate models M1-M4. The estimates from the M1 model were then extracted and used as predictors in the subsequent nonlinear analyses.
Input files: data_70_w_zeroes.txt, data_130_w_zeroes.txt , data_160_w_zeroes.txt, data_145_w_zeroes.txt, data_all_w_zeroes.txt, data_dep_indep_exploration.txt
3. nonlinear_interaction_model.Rmd is an R Markdown file used to run the nonlinear models NM1 and NN1.
Input files: unique_items_by_age.txt, sampling_overlap.txt, estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_70.txt, estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_130.txt, estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_145.txt, and estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_160.txt
4. nonlinear_interaction_model_species_merged.Rmd is an R Markdown file used to run the nonlinear models where some of the food items were merged to avoid artificially inflating the no of food items eaten by immatures (Table S8 in supplementary text)
Input files: unique_items_by_age.txt and estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_145.txt
4. single_dendrogram_w_histogram_number.R is an R script used to generate the circular dendrogram of the diets of the 13 focal immature orangutans.
Input files: unique_items_by_age.txt
5. knwn_unk_fooditems.Rmd is an R Markdown file used to generate the supplementary plot showing the proportion of feeding events within a follow with identified vs unidentified food items.
Input files: knwn_fooditems.txt, unk_fooditems.txt, and time_to_independence.txt
file name: time_to_independence.txt
- followNr: ID assigned to follow in the database
- date: Date during which the follow took place
- name: ID assigned to the focal immature
- ageclass: Age class of the immature
- sex: Sex of the immature
- time: Time at which the peering or exploration event occurred
- age: Age of the immature
- IncludeForAnalyses: Whether the focal follow should be included for analysis based on whether the observer passed the interobserver reliability test
- visibleObsDuration_Dec: Duration of the follow (in hours) during which the focal individual was visible to the observer
- FAI: Food availability index
- averageNrAssociationPartners: Association size (no. of individuals within a 50 m distance) of the immature, averaged across all scans within a given focal follow
- behaviour: Peering or exploration
file name: data_all_w_zeroes.txt, data_all_70_zeroes.txt, data_all_130_zeroes.txt, data_all_145_zeroes.txt, data_all_160_zeroes.txt
- followNr: ID assigned to follow in the database
- date: Date during which the follow took place
- name: ID assigned to the focal immature
- ageclass: Age class of the immature
- sex: Sex of the immature
- Age: Age of the immature
- IncludeForAnalyses: Whether the focal follow should be included for analysis based on whether the observer passed the interobserver reliability test
- ObservationTimeVisible_Dec: Duration of the follow (in hours) during which the focal individual was visible to the observer
- FAI: Food availability index
- averageNrAssociationPartners: Association size (no. of individuals within a 50 m distance) of the immature, averaged across all scans within a given focal follow
- NrPeeringEvents: No. of times the immature peered during the focal follow
- NrExplorationEvents: No. of times the immature explored during the focal follow (for 70: no. of explorations 70 minutes after prior peering, for 130: no. of explorations 130 minutes after prior peering, for 145: no. of explorations 145 minutes after prior peering, for 160: no. of explorations 160 minutes after prior peering
- sub1: 0 (don't include for analysis), 1 (include for analysis)
- sub2: 0 (don't include for analysis), 1 (include for analysis)
- observer: Name of the observer
- followType: NN (nest-to-nest), FN (found-to-nest), FL (found-to-lost), FL (found-to-lost)
file name: data_dep_indep_exploration.txt
- followNr: ID assigned to follow in the database
- date: Date during which the follow took place
- name: ID assigned to the focal immature
- ageclass: Age class of the immature
- sex: Sex of the immature
- Age: Age of the immature
- IncludeForAnalyses: Whether the focal follow should be included for analysis based whether the observer passed the interobserver reliability test
- ObservationTimeVisible_Dec: Duration of the follow (in hours) during which the focal individual was visible to the observer
- FAI: Food availability index
- averageNrAssociationPartners: Association size (no. of individuals within a 50 m distance) of the immature, averaged across all scans within a given focal follow
- NrPeeringEvents: No. of times the immature peered during the focal follow
- NrExplorationEventsD: No. of times the immature explored within 145 minutes of prior peering
- NrSocialinfoseekEvents: Sum of NrPeeringEvents and NrSocialInfoseekEvents
- NrExplorationEventsI: No. of times the immature explored after 145 minutes of prior peering
- sub1: 0 (don't include for analysis), 1 (include for analysis)
- sub2: 0 (don't include for analysis), 1 (include for analysis)
- observer: Name of the observer
file name: estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_70.txt, estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_130.txt, estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_145.txt, estimated_peering_and_independent_exploration_160.txt
- focalName: ID assigned to follow in the database
- estimated_peering: average estimated peering rate at the individual level obtained from respective multivariate models (70: SM1, 130: SM2, 160: SM3, M1: 145)
- estimated_exploration: average estimated individually initiated rate at the individual level obtained from respective multivariate models (70: SM1, 130: SM2, 160: SM3, M1: 145)
- sexFocal: Sex of the immature
file name: known_fooditems.txt
- followNr: ID assigned to follow in the database
- followDate: Date during which the follow took place
- focalName: ID assigned to the focal immature
- classFocal: Age-class of the immature
- sexFocal: Sex of the immature
- observer1: Name of the observer
- followType: NN (nest-to-nest), FN (found-to-nest), FL (found-to-lost), FL (found-to-lost)
- lengthActivityDecimal: Duration of the follow (in hours) during which the focal individual was visible to the observer
- averageNrAssociationPartners: Association size (no. of individuals within a 50 m distance) of the immature, averaged across all scans within a given focal follow
- timeHour: Time (hour) at which the feeding event occurred
- timeMin: Time (minute) at which the feeding event occurred
- activityFocal: Activity of the immature (i.e., feeding)
- jenisFocal: Indonesian food species name's abbreviation
- itemFocal: Part of the food plant that was eaten (young leaves, mature leaves, insects, flowers, fruits, honey, water, other, etc.)
- species_item: jenisFocal and itemFocal concatenated
- species_item_mod: jenisFocal and itemFocal concatenated with na for fruit ripeness removed
- used for analysis: Whether the focal follow should be included for analysis based on whether the observer passed the interobserver reliability test
file name: unk_fooditems.txt
- followNr: ID assigned to follow in the database
- followDate: Date during which the follow took place
- focalName: ID assigned to the focal immature
- classFocal: Age class of the immature
- sexFocal: Sex of the immature
- observer1: Name of the observer
- followType: NN (nest-to-nest), FN (found-to-nest), FL (found-to-lost), FL (found-to-lost)
- lengthActivityDecimal: Duration of the follow (in hours) during which the focal individual was visible to the observer
- averageNrAssociationPartners: Association size (no. of individuals within a 50 m distance) of the immature, averaged across all scans within a given focal follow
- timeHour: Time (hour) at which the feeding event occurred
- timeMin: Time (minute) at which the feeding event occurred
- activityFocal: Activity of the immature (i.e., feeding)
- unkjenis: Unknown food species during feeding event (unidentified)
- unkitem: Unknown part of the food plant during feeding event (unidentified)
- species_item: jenisFocal and itemFocal concatenated
- species_item_mod: jenisFocal and itemFocal concatenated with na for fruit ripeness removed
- used for analysis: Whether the focal follow should be included for analysis based whether the observer passed the interobserver reliability test
file name: sampling_overlap.txt
- followNr: ID assigned to follow in the database
- lengthActivityDecimal: Duration of the follow (in hours) during which the focal individual was visible to the observer
- focalName: ID assigned to the focal immature
- Age: Age-class of the immature
- used for analysis: Whether the focal follow should be included for analysis based whether the observer passed the interobserver reliability test
file name: unique_items_by_age.txt
- focalName: ID assigned to the focal immature
- age: Age of the immature
- classFocal: Age class of the immature
- sexFocal: Sex of the immature
- species_item_mod: food item (i.e., species item combination)
- species_item_mod_merged: food item (i.e., species item combination) where certain food items were groups. Information in Table S8, supplementary text