How animals react to novel food and objects is commonly thought of as a crucial step toward
innovations. One would therefore expect innovative species to be attracted to novelty and …

Although interindividual variation in problem-solving ability is well documented, its relation
to variation in fitness in the wild remains unclear. We investigated the relationship between …

Animal innovations have far-reaching ecological and evolutionary consequences. The
occurrence and persistence of an innovation require several processes, including …

Innovative foraging behaviour has been observed in many species, but little is known about
how novel behaviour emerges or why individuals differ in their propensity to innovate. Here …

Group living commonly helps organisms face challenging environmental conditions.
Although a known phenomenon in humans, recent findings suggest that a benefit of group …

This theme issue explores how and why behavioural innovation occurs, and the
consequences of innovation for individuals, groups and populations. A vast literature on …

Numerous studies have documented individual differences in exploratory tendencies and
other phenomena related to search, and these differences have been linked to fitness. Here …

Individuals develop innovative behaviours to solve foraging challenges in the face of
changing environmental conditions. Little is known about how individuals differ in their …

Highlights•We investigated the relationship between group size and innovative
behaviour.•Innovative behaviour emerges disproportionately quickly with increasing group …

Recent studies have uncovered relationships between measures of various cognitive
performances and proxies of fitness such as reproductive success in non-human animals …