7 research outputs found

    Transmission of Multiple Traditions within and between Chimpanzee Groups

    Get PDF
    SummaryField reports provide increasing evidence for local behavioral traditions among fish, birds, and mammals [1–7]. These findings are significant for evolutionary biology because social learning affords faster adaptation than genetic change and has generated new (cultural) forms of evolution [8–10]. Orangutan and chimpanzee field studies [3, 4, 11–13] suggest that like humans [14, 15], these apes are distinctive among animals in each exhibiting over 30 local traditions. However, direct evidence is lacking in apes and, with the exception of vocal dialects [16, 17], in animals generally for the intergroup transmission that would allow innovations to spread widely and become evolutionarily significant phenomena. Here, we provide robust experimental evidence that alternative foraging techniques seeded in different groups of chimpanzees spread differentially not only within groups but serially across two further groups with substantial fidelity. Combining these results with those from recent social-diffusion studies in two larger groups [18–20] offers the first experimental evidence that a nonhuman species can sustain unique local cultures, each constituted by multiple traditions. The convergence of these results with those from the wild implies a richness in chimpanzees' capacity for culture, a richness that parsimony suggests was shared with our common ancestor

    The national helpline during the COVID-19 pandemic : a pillar of support for the public

    Get PDF
    Soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malta in March 2020, the number of calls from the public escalated so much that a helpline service, Helpline 111, was set at a private call centre. Calls from the public were answered by a team of trained agents, supported onsite by officials from the Public Health Response Team. The reasons for the calls varied and guidelines for answering the calls were continuously updated in line with the current standards and mitigation measures.peer-reviewe

    A longitudinal analysis of trends in the number of positive cases and swabbing activities during the first eighteen months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malta

    Get PDF
    In March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic teams were set up to execute the processes needed to implement COVID-19 related activities. The Helpline team was responsible for the booking of appointments for swabbing, the first step in the process. The Helpline also received calls from the public for other reasons.peer-reviewe

    Abstracts

    No full text
    corecore