Young birds learn to survive from siblings instead of their parents

Experts have found that siblings can shape how young birds learn critical life skills – and in some cases, they may matter more than parents.

A new field study from the University of California, Davis, and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior shows that juvenile great tits often copy brothers, sisters, and nearby adults more than their own parents.

The research is the first to track social learning strategies in wild juveniles of a species with only brief parental care.

“Most of what we know comes from species with long parental care,” said lead author Sonja Wild, a scientist at UC Davies. “We wanted to know how learning works when parents step back quickly.”

Great tits (Parus major) are a useful model for that question. After fledging, young birds get roughly ten days of support. Then parents reduce provisioning and the juveniles must manage alone. They need to find food, avoid predators, and navigate social groups with little guidance.

Automated puzzles reveal bird patterns

The team followed 51 breeding pairs and 229 fledglings for ten weeks. They deployed automated puzzle feeders that dispensed mealworms. Each box opened when a bird slid a door left or right.

Every bird wore a microchip, so each attempt was logged with time and identity. The setup captured tens of thousands of solves and near misses.

The design allowed the researchers to see who learned first and who copied whom. It also showed which “solution” spread – left or right – within each family.

Parents spark, siblings teach

Parental skill still mattered. Offspring from adept parents were more likely to try the device. But the birds’ actual tactics came from others.

Early learners in each sibling group copied unrelated adults about three times more often than they copied parents. Once one fledgling figured it out, the rest followed their sibling’s lead. About 94 percent of later learners adopted the sibling’s solution.

The pattern was strong and consistent. Parents nudged juveniles to engage. Siblings and nonparent adults taught them how.

“When they leave the nest, they know almost nothing,” Wild said. “With limited parental help, they turn to whoever is around and successful.”

Bird family ties guide survival

Why would siblings dominate? Proximity and timing likely matter. Fledglings travel and forage together during the brief post-fledging period. One sibling’s breakthrough becomes a highly visible template. Copying is fast, low risk, and efficient when energy and time are scarce.

The findings help explain why related birds can share behaviors even when parental care is short. Families converge on a tactic because siblings transmit it, not because bird parents enforce it. The result is a cultural signature that persists within a brood.

The study also underscores the value of community knowledge. Many first learners were not copying parents but competent nearby adults.

Those early models seeded techniques that siblings then amplified. Information, in other words, cascaded through the social network.

Learning that protects species

Beyond basic behavior, the work has conservation implications. Animal cultures can boost resilience to change. More learning pathways mean more options when conditions shift.

If juveniles birds can draw on siblings and neighbors, they may adapt faster to new food sources or altered habitats.

“The more diverse the cultural routes, the more robust a population can be,” Wild said. “Multiple role models reduce reliance on any single source.”

The team’s method was highly important. Fully automated puzzle boxes removed observer bias and captured fine-grained decisions. Microchipped birds allowed precise mapping of learning lines. That level of detail is rare in the wild, especially for juveniles.

Applying lessons from birds

The results also suggest practical steps for conservation managers. Supporting mixed-age foraging groups could enhance learning opportunities.

Protecting post-fledging habitats may help juveniles watch and copy successful adults. Interventions that preserve sibling groups might strengthen cultural transmission during a critical window.

The study raises fresh questions, too. Do sibling-taught tactics persist across seasons? Do they affect survival or breeding success? How do predators or food scarcity alter who gets copied? Future work will test how robust these learning networks are under stress.

For now, the takeaway is clear. In bird species with brief parental care, siblings play a central teaching role. They turn early hints from the wider community into durable, shared skills. While parents may open the door, brothers and sisters show how to walk through it.

The study is published in the journal PLOS Biology.

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