Methodology

Our research relies on the following definition of inventions : inventions are behaviours that were unpredictable given the behavioural repertoire (of the individual and of its group) and the conditions of the environment.

According to this definition, inventions can become, but are not necessarily, innovations; they may not alter the way things are done. We will consider a behaviour to be an invention in two cases: (1) if it is a behaviour that has never been displayed before by either the individual or the group under study, or (2) if the behaviour has never been observed before in that particular context (the behaviour itself may be typical, but the situation is novel).
A behaviour will not be considered an invention if it is already present in the group and/or simply reflects the normal development of a juvenile. However, it may still be considered an invention if the behaviour exists in another group within the population, as it is likely not socially learned.

This approach has the dual benefit of allowing us to study animal agency in the strong sense of inventiveness (where agents are animals that introduce something new into their environment), while grounding this study in the analysis of observable behaviour.

This preliminary definition will be refined as the research progresses. However, it will initially guide us in identifying inventive behaviours both in documented cases from existing literature and in developing the stronger definition crucial for our observations and experiments with chacma baboons.

The methods for the first stage of the research are primarily conceptual and theoretical. The methods for the second and third stages will enrich this conceptual work through empirical approaches.