The ecology and evolution of human-wildlife cooperation
2022
Cram, Dominic L. | van der Wal, Jessica E. M. | Uomini, Natalie | Cantor, Mauricio | Afan, Anap I. | Attwood, Mairenn C. | Amphaeris, Jenny | Balasani, Fatima | Blair, Cameron J. | Bronstein, Judith L. | Buanachique, Iahaia O. | Cuthill, Rion R. T. | Das, Jewel | Daura-Jorge, Fábio G. | Deb, Apurba | Dixit, Tanmay | Dlamini, Gcina S. | Dounias, Edmond | Gedi, Isa I. | Gruber, Martin | Hoffmann, Lilian S. | Holzlehner, Tobias | Isack, Hussein A. | Laltaika, Eliupendo A. | Lloyd-Jones, David J. | Lund, Jess | Machado, Alexandre M. S. | Mahadevan, L. | Moreno, Ignacio B. | Nwaogu, Chima J. | Pierotti, Raymond | Rucunua, Seliano A. | dos Santos, Wilson F. | Serpa, Nathalia | Smith, Brian D. | Sridhar, Hari | Tolkova, Irina | Tun, Tint | Valle-Pereira, João V. S. | Wood, Brian M. | Wrangham, Richard W. | Spottiswoode, Claire N. | University of Cambridge [UK] (CAM) | Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution (DLCE) ; Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH) ; Max-Planck-Gesellschaft-Max-Planck-Gesellschaft | Department of Zoology [Cambridge] ; University of Cambridge [UK] (CAM) | Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) ; Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) ; Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [Occitanie])-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro Montpellier ; Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Université de Montpellier (UM) | Vienna University of Technology = Technische Universität Wien (TU Wien) | Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) ; Harvard University | Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Aquáticos do Rio (GEMARS) ; Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Aquáticos do Rio | Centro de Estudos Costeiros ; Centro de Estudos Costeiros | Harvard University | Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology ; University of Cape Town
International audience
Show more [+] Less [-]English. Human-wildlife cooperation is a type of mutualism in which a human and a wild, free-living animal actively coordinate their behaviour to achieve a common beneficial outcome. While other cooperative human-animal interactions involving captive coercion or artificial selection (including domestication) have received extensive attention, we lack integrated insights into the ecology and evolution of human-wildlife cooperative interactions. Here, we review and synthesise the function, mechanism, development, and evolution of human-wildlife cooperation. Active cases involve people cooperating with greater honeyguide birds and with two dolphin species, while historical cases involve wolves and orcas. In all cases, a food source located by the animal is made available to both species by a tool-using human, coordinated with cues or signals. The mechanisms mediating the animal behaviours involved are unclear, but they may resemble those underlying intraspecific cooperation and reduced neophobia. The skills required appear to develop at least partially by social learning in both humans and the animal partners. As a result, distinct behavioural variants have emerged in each type of human-wildlife cooperative interaction in both species, and human-wildlife cooperation is embedded within local human cultures. We propose multiple potential origins for these unique cooperative interactions, and highlight how shifts to other interaction types threaten their persistence. Finally, we identify key questions for future research. We advocate an approach that integrates ecological, evolutionary and anthropological perspectives to advance our understanding of human-wildlife cooperation. In doing so, we will gain new insights into the diversity of our ancestral, current and future interactions with the natural world.
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