Llamas are better at performing tasks after watching a human or llama do it first. This ability to learn from others, called social learning, is common among highly intelligent animals like primates but had never before been documented in llamas.
To investigate if llamas (Lama glama) could learn from others, researchers challenged 30 llamas on three farms in Germany to find a food reward behind a fence. On one side of a rectangular enclosure, behind a V-shaped metal fence, researchers placed a bowl of food while the llamas watched.
Each llama was led to a starting position at the entrance of the pen and let loose. Some llamas were first allowed to watch humans walk around the fence to get the food, while others could observe trained llamas perform the task. A third group had no guidance. The trial ended after 1 minute or when the llama reached the food.
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Overall, around half of the llamas solved the challenge, and those that watched others were more likely to find the reward and did it faster. Only two of the 10 llamas without guidance found the reward, while six of the 10 watching other llamas succeeded. Seven out of 10 llamas observing people found the food, making human guidance the most effective.
鈥淟lamas are able to extract some information from knowledgeable [llamas] and, interestingly, also humans,鈥� says at the Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology in Germany.聽 While most of the llamas followed the route of the demonstrators 鈥� left or right around the fence 鈥� a few took their own path, suggesting they gleaned a more general understanding of the navigation challenge.
The species may have evolved the ability to learn from human cues over thousands of years of domestication. Pahl hopes the discovery will be used to better guide llama care. Because llamas are a popular pack animal for hikers in South America, allowing them to first observe a trained human traverse difficult terrain, for example, could help them navigate more safely.
Animal Cognition
