‘Conformity’ in Norway rats?

In a recent paper, Whiten & van Schaik (2007, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 362, 603–620) suggested that although a tendency to conform to the behaviour of others is widespread in animals, only chimpanzees and humans will ignore personally acquired knowledge of a superior behavioural alternative and copy the behaviour of others expressing a less effective behaviour. Here we show that ‘observer’ Norway …