Each selected for a grant inspired by Jane Goodall, three early-career field researchers discuss their work and share how better understanding of animal cognition helps us better understand ourselves.
The Wildlife Intelligence Project, a $2.7 million joint initiative between National Geographic Society and Templeton World Charity Foundation, was designed to support 3 early-career wildlife researchers building upon the work of trailblazers like Dr. Jane Goodall, the world-renowned ethologist, activist, and conservationist.
This podcast episode features the recipients: cognitive ecologist and bee researcher Dr. Felicity Muth; primatologist Dr. Tiago Falótico; and behavioral ecologist and biologist Dr. Mauricio Cantor.
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“Humans are animals too. The more we can understand about the other animals on this planet, the more we will also learn about humans.”
Cognitive ecologist and bee researcher Dr. Felicity Muth, runs a bee cognition lab, at the University of California, Davis. "Lab work allows us to get at what bees can do. But if we want to really understand what they actually do, then it's helpful to go out and work with wild animals." Working with wild bees from rural Nevada and California, she studies how ecological variables influence cognitive traits in bees, focusing on their associative learning, decision-making, and memory. "Understanding cognition in any non-human animal helps us understand cognition better. And because we're all related, ultimately our understanding will help us understand everything, including humans." Muth says she feels "very humbled" to win an award inspired by Jane Goodall's work. "One of the big things I take from Jane Goodall is the power of observation...I tell my students that they should spend time just watching wild bumblebees do what they do. Because I think, so often as humans, we come in with our own preconceived ideas of what we expect to see, what we want to see. And I think it's really important just to step back and observe what the animal is doing." And like Goodall, Muth's work is, in part, driven by the climate crisis. Focusing on bees allows her to bring a bigger planetary story into focus. She says: "Many native bees are in decline. And I think it's part of a much bigger picture of wildlife on this planet... If you turn meadows into parking lots, bees have nowhere to go. Conversion of land for agriculture is a loss for everybody. Humans are animals, too. And so the more we can understand about the other animals on this planet, the more we will also learn about humans. Preserving biodiversity is important for so many reasons — one is the future of humanity."
Dr. Tiago Falótico is a Brazilian primatologist and ethologist who studies the behavior, social learning, and culture of wild primates. One of the breakthroughs Dr. Falótico admires of Dr. Goodall's, was her discovery that chimpanzees in the wild use tools, and he is building on that body of work. His research is focused on the use of tools among wild capuchin monkeys in Brazil’s Serra da Capivara and Ubajara National Parks. Using a primate archaeology approach, he compares tool use behavior between different sexes and groups of capuchin monkeys to help drive a better understanding of primate cognition, cultural behavior and human evolution. Dr. Falótico’s research follows the capuchins' ontogeny — their development over a long period of time. That’s allowed him to observe how adult capuchins teach their young about the culture of tool use. "To become a culture, [innovations] have to be learned by the others. If you innovate something and nobody sees you using that or that innovation, that's going to die with you, but if you innovate and then you have the chance to the others to see this innovation — in this case, tool use — or being touched with the elements of that behavior, then it allows this social learning to happen at some point, and then allows to the culture to be maintained in that group." Researchers don't yet know if the capuchins have cumulative culture, says Dr. Falótico, or "if they're going to change something based on previous innovations. That's something that would be interesting to see." Humans also have very complex tools. "So it's interesting to see another species that also use tools and see what led them to use those tools in the wild and what could have happened during evolution," says Falótico. He's curious to learn what the ecological and social factors that impacted their tool use might tell us about "the starting point of our own complex tool use.
“If we can create empathy for the natural world, we'll all be inspired to care for it much more deeply and then motivated to protect it.”
Behavioral ecologist and biologist Dr. Mauricio Cantor, an assistant professor at the Marine Mammal Institute and the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences at Oregon State University. Cantor researches the evolution of animal cognition, and how that informs human culture. His focus is on the cooperative relationship between fishers and dolphins in two locations: Laguna and Tramandaí Inlet in Southern Brazil. For generations, humans and their marine partners in those areas have teamed up to catch fish together. His work examines whether specific ecological conditions have contributed to the evolution of this human-dolphin cooperation in these regions. He is inspired by Jane Goodall's legacy in two ways. First, that "individuals matter. And in particular, the individuals matter in this small cooperative system. The fishers recognize individual dolphins. It's one of those 10, 12 dolphins that have been interacting with humans throughout their lives and learning and getting better at it." He's also inspired by Jane Goodall's long-term observation, and long-term monitoring of chimpanzees. Gleaning impactful insights takes time, and Cantor and his team feel "very privileged to be able to study these interactions over the long run." Cantor hopes that his research will play a part in sustaining the unique dolphin-human cooperative culture, which is at risk in the modern era. Cantor says, "If we lose the traditional knowledge, either on the dolphin side or on the fisher side, then that can break down their cooperation. It can take more than a decade to start to understand the changes in the system to see if we can predict any tipping points that could lead to this longstanding partnerships to dissolve." His work affirms the notion that "wild animals and humans can still work together to their mutual benefits," he says. This cooperation is a "counterexample of all the other, way too familiar, harmful ways that we interact with nature. Usually, nature pays the larger costs and humans will gain the largest benefits. It doesn't have to be like this."
"These three explorers working on bees, dolphins, and primates help us understand ourselves in the sense that we are part of a greater whole, that we are not separate from the natural world, and that we probably share more with the other organisms on this planet than we are different from them. And I think in this day and age, more than ever, we need to really fully understand and feel that we're part of a bigger system," says paleobotanist Dr. Ian Miller, Chief science & innovation officer at the National Geographic Society. "We really feel here at National Geographic that if we can create empathy for the natural world, we'll all be inspired to care for it much more deeply and then motivated to protect it. And these three people will really help us do that."
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Related podcast: Changing the World with Dr. Jane Goodall
Related video: National Geographic Wildlife Intelligence Project: Inspired by Jane Goodall & the Templeton Prize (video)
INTERESTED IN ANIMAL COGNITION?
Built upon the award-winning video series of the same name, Templeton World Charity Foundation’s “Stories of Impact” podcast features stories of new scientific research on human flourishing that translate discoveries into practical tools. Bringing a mix of curiosity, compassion, and creativity, journalist Richard Sergay and producer Tavia Gilbert shine a spotlight on the human impact at the heart of cutting-edge social and scientific research projects supported by TWCF.
