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Young Great Tits Learn More from Siblings, Adults

10/10/2025

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Summary

Story summary

The study, published in PLOS Biology, finds juvenile European great tits learn life skills more from siblings and non-parental adults than from parents.
Researchers from UC Davis and Max Planck Institute studied 51 breeding pairs and 229 fledglings.
Over ten weeks, feeding puzzles assessed learning. Nearly 75% of first learners learned from non-parental adults, 94% of later learners from siblings.

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Story summary

The study, published in PLOS Biology, finds juvenile European great tits learn life skills more from siblings and non-parental adults than from parents.
Researchers from UC Davis and Max Planck Institute studied 51 breeding pairs and 229 fledglings.
Over ten weeks, feeding puzzles assessed learning. Nearly 75% of first learners learned from non-parental adults, 94% of later learners from siblings.