How do teaching and learning take place in the jungle?

There are no uniforms, no blackboards, and no zoom classes either in these schools. There is one teacher and one or more students. And what is taught Survival skills. Animal parents teach their offspring how to forage, hunt, and defend themselves. The young ones learn through observation and rigorous training. Some of these teachers are strict, some are innovative and some instinctive. But they all seem to have one thing in their mind- to see their young ones master life skills needed for an independent living.

Scientists have not observed classroom-type teaching in the animal world, say, one individual teaching a group of others in their herd, rather they have found strong evidence of teaching by parents. Schooling for the offspring starts when they are days or weeks old. Meerkats, rock ants, killer whales, elephants, some apes and cheetahs are some of the animals that have been observed to teach their cubs and calves.

Meerkat

The meerkat is a small carnivore, related to the mongoose family, found in parts of Africa. An adult meerkat teaches its young through demonstration. It offers enough time for its pup to pick up hunting skills in three stages. In the first stage, the adult meerkat brings the young one a dead prey (such as a scorpion). In the second stage, it captures a live scorpion and removes its stinger before giving it to its pup for killing. When the pup gets older, the adult meerkat brings a live prey without removing the stinger and demonstrates how to kill it. After days of practice, the ward is eventually expected to take a test, where it will have to demonstrate how to capture a scorpion, remove its stinger and kill it.

Golden lion tamarin

The golden lion tamarin is a New World Monkey found in Brazil. A primatologist observed a mother calling out to its baby, pointing to the inside of a broken tree branch, probably after spotting food. The offspring, as the mother stepped aside, pulled out a frog. The baby not only learnt where to look for food, but also to catch the prey under the watchful eyes of its teacher parent.

Cheetah

Cheetah employs a strategy similar to that of meerkats. A dead prey is brought in for the younger ones, while a live prey is offered to the older ones. A cheetah mother also shows her cubs what their prey is, how to chase, catch and kill. Once weaned, the cubs are gradually introduced to hunting, when the mother lets the cubs observe while she hunts. And then she catches a young and vulnerable prey and releases it in front of her cubs. The cubs are expected to knock it down. Since the prey (say a fawn) is young, it would not be able to run. If in the process, the family loses the prey , the cubs still may have learnt a thing or two about hunting by then. Mistakes are learning opportunities, aren’t they?

Bird

For birds, flying comes through a bit of instinct and a lot of practice. Until they develop the required muscle structure, food is brought to the safety of the nest. When the parent thinks a fledgling is ready to fly, it follows a set pattern of techniques. Parent birds start to remain a short distance away from the nest when they bring food. A young bird has no choice but to step out of the nest to receive the food, even if it means a few hard falls and a long trip back to the nest. Falls reduce as the young bird stretches out its wings. It may take days or weeks before a fledgling is ready to make long-distance flying. Other forms of teaching are also common among birds. The southern pied babblers, found in South Africa, school their young to associate certain calls with availability of food, while superb fairywrens teach a ‘code word to their eggs. When the chicks hatch, they use the code to ask for food.

Whale

Whales and dolphins follow similar methods of teaching – in different stages and by slowly increasing the difficulty level. Whales first have rehearsals in a safe environment without the prey. The mother trains the young to get to the beach and back to the water. Then she demonstrates how to hunt. The calf finally attempts to catch seal pups. An adult female also assists by either stunning the prey or creating waves to help catch it. Atlantic spotted dolphin mothers sometimes release a prey fish in front of the calves and watch them chase and hunt it.

Picture Credit : Google

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