Dr Alex Thornton

+44 (0)1223 741826
+44 (0)1223 741802
jant@cam.ac.uk

Curriculum vitae
2000-2003: BA (Hons) Biological Sciences, University of Oxford
2003-2007: PhD, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge
2007-2010: Drapers' Company Research Fellow, Pembroke College, Cambridge
2010-2015: BBSRC David Phillips Fellow, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge

Research
I am interested in the development and evolution of cognitive abilities and in the role of social learning in shaping the behaviour of individuals and groups. My research uses a variety of observational and experimental techniques to examine these issues in animal societies in their natural environments.

Please visit my research group's website: www.wildcognitionresearch.com

Opportunities
I encourage potential PhD students and post-docs to contact me with a CV and brief cover letter outlining their interests.

Study sites Cambridge Jackdaw Project Corvids are famed for their sophisticated cognitive abilities, but as virtually all research has been conducted in captivity, the selective pressures favouring corvid intelligence are not understood. The Cambridge Jackdaw Project aims to address this issue using a nest-box population of colour-ringed wild jackdaws, an inquisitive and highly social corvid species. The project is based in the village of Madingley, 4 miles from Cambridge.
Kalahari Meerkat Project The Kalahari Meerkat Project, set up by Tim Clutton-Brock, is a long-term research project comprising multiple groups of individually recognisable habituated meerkats. My research at the project examines aspects of motivation, social learning and the establishment of traditions, and includes the first evidence for teaching in wild animals.

Current Research Topics

(1) Causes and consequences of variation in cognitive ability
Individual variation is common in laboratory studies of cognition, but its causes are rarely considered and its fitness consequences are unknown. I am examining these issues by presenting wild jackdaws at their nest boxes with novel tasks across a variety of cognitive domains. This will allow me to determine the extent of individual consistency across tasks and examine whether individual performance correlates with measures of reproductive fitness. Cross-fostering experiments will allow assessment of genetic and developmental influences on cognitive performance.

Collaborator: Nicola Clayton

(2) Cognitive challenges and associated benefits of corvid social life
The need to navigate the challenges of social life in complex and dynamic societies is thought to be one of the main forces driving the evolution of intelligence. I am using playback experiments to examine whether wild jackdaws, like social primates, recognise multiple individuals, keep track of the relationships between them and derive fitness benefits from their investment in social relationships.

Collaborator: Marta Manser

(3) Effects of social learning on individual and group-level behaviour
This work uses experiments and observational data to examine social learning of anti-predator and foraging behaviour and the spread of novel skills within and between groups of wild jackdaws and meerkats. I am collaborating with Kevin Laland and Will Hoppitt to use statistical models to identify mechanisms and examine the effect of individual characteristics and social relationships on the establishment of traditions in wild animal societies. Additional experiments have examined patterns of innovation in meerkats and Cape ground squirrels.

Collaborators: Tim Clutton-Brock, Nick Davies, Will Hoppitt, Kevin Laland, Katherine McAuliffe, Nichola Raihani.

Publications
Thornton, A. and Clutton-Brock, T. (In press) Social learning and the development of individual and group behaviour in mammal societies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

Thornton, A., Samson, J. and Clutton-Brock, T. (2010) Multi-generational persistence of traditions in neighbouring meerkat groups. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 277, 3623-3629. [PDF]
Video podcast, BBC Slideshow.

Thornton, A. and Raihani, N.J. (2010) Identifying teaching in wild animals. Learning & Behavior 38, 297-309. [PDF]

Thornton, A. & Malapert, A. (2009) Experimental evidence for social transmission of food acquisition techniques in wild meerkats. Animal Behaviour 78, 255-264. [PDF]

Hodge, S.J., Thornton, A. Flower, T.P. & Clutton-Brock, T.H. (2009) Food limitation increases aggression in juvenile meerkats. Behavioral Ecology 20, 930-935.

Thornton, A. & Malapert, A. (2009) The rise and fall of an arbitrary tradition: an experiment with wild meerkats. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 276, 1269-1276. [PDF]

Thornton, A. & Hodge, S.J. (2009) The development of foraging microhabitat preferences in meerkats. Behavioral Ecology 20, 103-110. [PDF]

Hoppitt, W.J.E., Brown, G.R., Kendal, R., Thornton, A., Webster, M.M. & Laland, K.N. (2008) Lessons from animal teaching. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 23, 486-493.

Thornton, A. (2008) Social learning about novel foods in young meerkats. Animal Behaviour 76, 1411-1421. [PDF]

Thornton, A. & Raihani, N.J. (2008) The evolution of teaching. Animal Behaviour 75, 1823-1836. [PDF]

Thornton, A. (2008) Variation in contributions to teaching in meerkats. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 275, 1745-1751. [PDF]

Thornton, A. (2008) Early condition, time budgets and the acquisition of foraging skills in meerkats. Animal Behaviour 75, 951-962. [PDF]

Thornton, A., Raihani, N.J. & Radford, A.N. (2007) Teachers in the wild: some clarification. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 11, 272-273. [PDF]

Thornton, A. & McAuliffe, K. (2006) Teaching wild meerkats. Science 313, 227-229. [PDF]

Research Assistant
Jolle Jolles

PhD Student
Gabrielle Davidson (co-supervised with Nicola Clayton)