Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Variation and social influence of bowing behavior by sika deer (Cervus nippon)

  • Article
  • Published:
Journal of Ethology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Nara Park, Nara Prefecture, Japan is a sightseeing destination in which people have the unique custom of feeding specialized cookies to the park’s free-ranging sika deer, Cervus nippon. Sika deer in Nara Park display a behavior akin to bowing to their human feeders. To characterize this bowing behavior and determine whether it is unique, we conducted feeding experiments with deer cookies on deer populations in Nara Park and Miyajima Island, Hiroshima Prefecture, where cookies are not available. Sika deer in Nara Park bowed more frequently than those on Miyajima Island. Within Nara Park, sika deer in busy areas bowed more frequently than those in quiet areas. These findings imply that bowing behavior has been acquired through encounters with humans. In Nara Park, adult deer showed the greatest number of bows, followed by yearlings and finally fawns. When bowing, up–down movement was relatively more common than slant movement in adults than in yearlings. These findings suggest that sika deer in Nara Park develop bowing behavior with age. Bowing behavior also differed among sexes and postures: more in females than males, and more in standing individuals than those sitting. Young individuals bowed more frequently after demonstrations of bowing behavior by adults than before, suggesting a social influence on this behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+
from $39.99 /Month
  • Starting from 10 chapters or articles per month
  • Access and download chapters and articles from more than 300k books and 2,500 journals
  • Cancel anytime
View plans

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, books and news in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.

References

  • Allen J, Weinrich M, Hoppitt W, Rendell L (2013) Network-based diffusion analysis reveals cultural transmission of lobtail feeding in humpback whales. Science 340:485–488

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Battesti M, Moreno C, Joly D, Mery F (2012) Spread of social information and dynamics of social transmission within Drosophila groups. Curr Biol 22:309–313

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Biro D, Inoue-Nakamura N, Tonooka R, Yamakoshi G, Sousa C, Matsuzawa T (2003) Cultural innovation and transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees: evidence from field experiments. Anim Cogn 6:213–223

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bonnie KE, Horner V, Whiten A, deWaal FBM (2007) Spread of arbitrary conventions among chimpanzees: a controlled experiment. Proc R Soc B 274:367–372

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne RW (1994) The evolution of intelligence. In: Slater PJB, Halliday TR (eds) Behaviour and evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 223–265

  • Core Team R (2015) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Curio E, Ulrich E, Vieth W (1978a) Cultural transmission of enemy recognition: one function of avian mobbing. Science 202:899–901

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Curio E, Ulrich E, Vieth W (1978b) The adaptive significance of avian mobbing: II. Cultural transmission of enemy recognition in black birds: effectiveness and some constraints. Z Tierpsychol 48:184–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher J, Hinde RA (1949) The opening of milk bottles by birds. Br Birds 42:347–357

    Google Scholar 

  • Fragaszy DM, Perry S (2003) The biology of traditions: models and evidence. Cambridge University, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fukunaga H, Kawamichi T (1975) Behavior of sika deer (Cervus nippon) in Nara Park (I): habitat use and daily activity. In: Kawamura S (ed) Annual report of Nara Deer Research Association 1975. Kasuga Kenshokai, Nara, pp 3–13 (in Japanese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber T, Muller MN, Strimling P, Wrangham R, Zuberbühler K (2009) Wild chimpanzees rely on cultural knowledge to solve an experimental honey acquisition task. Curr Biol 19:1806–1810

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gruber T, Muller MN, Reynolds V, Wrangham R, Zuberbühler K (2011) Community-specific evaluation of tool affordances in wild chimpanzees. Scientific Rep 1:128

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hinde RA, Fisher J (1951) Further observations on the opening of milk bottles by birds. Br Birds 44:393–396

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobaiter C, Poisot T, Zuberbuhler K, Hoppitt W, Gruber T (2014) Social network analysis shows direct evidence for social transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees. PLoS Biol 12:e1001960

  • Horner V, Whiten A, Flynn E, de Waal FBM (2006) Faithful replication of foraging techniques along cultural transmission chains by chimpanzees and children. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:13878–13883

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huffman MA (1996) Acquisition of innovative cultural behaviors in nonhuman primates: a case study of stone handling, a socially transmitted behavior in Japanese macaques. In: Heyes CM, Galef BG Jr (eds) Social learning in animals: the roots of culture. Academic, Orlando, pp 267–289

  • Hunt GR, Gray RD (2003) Diversification and cumulative evolution in New Caledonian crow tool manufacture. Proc R Soc B 270:867–874

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kakizawa R, Ando S (1978) Behavior measurement of sika deer by telemeter in Nara Park: measurement of diurnal movement. In: Kawamura S (ed) Annual Report of Nara Deer Research Association 1978. Kasuga Kenshokai, Nara, pp 15–23 (in Japanese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kawai M (1965) Newly-acquired pre-cultural behavior of natural troop of Japanese monkeys on Koshima Islet. Primates 6:1–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawamichi T (1980) Aggressive behavior and dominance rank of sika deer Cervus nippon in Nara Park. In: Kawamura S (ed) Annual Report of Nara Deer Research Association 1980. Kasuga Kenshokai, Nara, pp 95–111 (in Japanese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN, Hoppitt W (2003) Do animals have culture? Evol Anthropol 12:150–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lefebvre L (1986) Cultural diffusion of a novel food-finding behaviour in urban pigeons: an experimental field test. Ethology 71:295–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lonsdorf EV, Pusey AE, Eberly L (2004) Sex differences in learning in chimpanzees. Nature 428:715–716

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Man J, Sargeant B (2003) Like mother, like calf: the ontogeny of foraging traditions in wild Indian ocean bottlenose dolphins (Tursiopsis sp.). In: Fragaszy DM, Perry S (eds) The biology of traditions: models and evidence. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 236–266

  • Menzel EW, Devenport RK, Rogers CM (1972) Proto-cultural aspects of chimpanzee’s responsiveness to novel objects. Folia Primatol 17:161–170

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miura S (1977) Sociological studies on sika deer in Nara Park with reference to individual distribution and behavior. In: Kawamura S (ed) Annual Report of Nara Deer Research Association 1977. Kasuga Kenshokai, Nara, pp 3–42 (in Japanese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Miura S (1978) A year of sika deer in Nara Park: (I) rutting period. In: Kawamura S (ed) Annual Report of Nara Deer Research Association 1978. Kasuga Kenshokai, Nara, pp 3–12 (in Japanese with English abstract)

  • Panger M, Perry S, Rose L, Gros-Louise J, Vogel E, MacKinnon K, Backer M (2002) Cross-site differences in the foraging behavior of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus). Am J Phys Anthropol 119:52–66

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Perry S, Baker M, Fedigan L, Gros-Louis J, Jack K, MacKinnon K, Manson J, Panger M, Pyle K, Rose L (2003) Social conventions in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys: evidence for traditions in a neotropical primate. Curr Anthropol 44:241–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rendell LE, Whitehead H (2001) Culture in whales and dolphins. Behav Brain Sci 24:309–382

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • SAS Institute Inc. (2010) JMP, version 9, Japanese Edition. SAS, Cary, pp 295–315, 345–351

  • Stanley EL, Kendal RL, Kendal JR, Grounds S, Laland KN (2008) The effect of group size, rate of turnover and disruption to demonstration on the stability of foraging traditions in fishes. Anim Behav 75:565–572

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornton A, Clutton-Brock T (2011) Social learning and the development of individual and group behavior in mammal societies. Phil Trans R Soc B 366:978–987

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tsukada H (1997) Acquisition of food begging behavior by red foxes in the Shiretoko National Park, Hokkaido, Japan. Mammal Stud 22:71–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van de Waal E, Borgeaud C, Whiten A (2013) Potent social learning and conformity shape a wild primate’s foraging decisions. Science 340:483–485

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Schaik CP, Ancrenaz M, Borgan G, Galdikas B, Knott CD, Singleton I, Suzuki A, Utami S, Merrill M (2003) Orangutan cultures and the evolution of material culture. Science 299:102–105

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Voelkl B, Huber L (2000) True imitation in marmosets. Anim Behav 60:195–202

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whiten A, Goodall J, McGew WC, Nishida T, Reynolds V, Sugiyama Y, Tutin CEG, Wrangham RW, Boesch C (1999) Cultures in chimpanzees. Nature 399:682–685

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whiten A, Ham R (1992) On the nature and evolution of imitation in the animal kingdom: reappraisal of a century of research. Adv Stud Behav 21:239–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whiten A, Horner V, de Waal FBM (2005) Conformity to cultural norms of tool use in chimpanzees. Nature 437:737–740

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whiten A, Mesoudi A (2008) Establishing an experimental science of culture: animal social diffusion experiments. Phil Trans R Soc B 363:3477–3488

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whiten A, Spiteri A, Horner V, Bonnie KE, Lambeth SP, Schapiro SJ, de Waal FBM (2007) Transmission of multiple traditions within and between chimpanzee groups. Curr Biol 17:1038–1043

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to Prof. Y. Yusa and Dr. H. Sato for their helpful advice and suggestions. Dr. Y. Ihara supported our field study. We are also grateful to members of the Laboratory of Population and Community Ecology, Nara Women’s University for their support and encouragement. Careful reviewing by the two anonymous reviewers and an editor is also acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Science, Nara Women’s University, Nara, 630-8506, Japan

    Sakurako Akita, Yoko Wada & Keiji Wada

  2. Nara University of Education, 630-8528, Nara, Japan

    Harumi Torii

Authors
  1. Sakurako Akita
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yoko Wada
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Keiji Wada
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Harumi Torii
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keiji Wada.

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Akita, S., Wada, Y., Wada, K. et al. Variation and social influence of bowing behavior by sika deer (Cervus nippon). J Ethol 34, 89–96 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-015-0451-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-015-0451-7

Keywords