Social learning in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus).

This study investigates whether golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) pups can acquire a new behavior by interacting with an experienced adult conspecific. The behavior consisted of using teeth and forepaws to retrieve a piece of food dangling from a small chain. Instrumental learning techniques were used to train the demonstrators. Four groups of pups were exposed to different kinds of social experience. In the first group, the pups interacted with their skilled mother; in the second group, they did the same with their inexperienced mother; in the third group, they interacted with inexperienced littermates; and in the fourth group, the pups were tested individually. At the end of an acquisition period, the pups were tested individually to assess their performance. The results demonstrate that interacting with a skilled mother has a remarkable effect on the acquisition of a new feeding behavior by hamster pups.