By Susan Milius
View a video of tortoises exhibiting social learning from their peers.
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Animal hermits can learn from their peers, researchers say, even though they rarely encounter one another in the wild.
Red-footed tortoises in the wild live a typically lonely tortoise life, without even being cared for by their parents. But in the lab, they can pick up hints to solving a problem by watching a more accomplished tortoise, says cognitive biologist Anna Wilkinson of the University of Vienna. “It’s the first demonstration of social learning in reptiles,” she says.