The flexibility of social learning and its conservation implications in mammals and beyond

Conservation strategies seek to ensure that populations persist and are resilient to environmental change. As learning from others can shape the development of skills that help animals survive, reproduce and respond to changing conditions, understanding social learning can be of crucial conservation importance. Research on mammals, with their great diversity of niches and social systems, provides vital evidence that social learning helps animals to communicate, secure mates, avoid predators, forage effectively and navigate through their ecological and social environments. However, these environments are being rapidly altered in the Anthropocene, influencing individuals’ reliance on social learning, the value of learned information, its spread through groups and the stability of socially learned traditions. Here, we review and synthesize this growing body of literature to highlight how understanding the ways in which animals use social learning and deploy it flexibly throughout their lives may enhance conservation programmes. We consider both the potential negative consequences of social learning and the scope for social-learning-driven interventions to generate adaptive responses to the challenges of rapidly changing environments. A greater appreciation and integration of social learning and its flexibility will ultimately promote the effective conservation of mammals and other taxa in our fast-changing world. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Animal culture: conservation in a changing world’.