Animal cumulative culture through changing environments

Humanity's ecological success is often attributed to cumulative cultural evolution (CCE). While experimental and observational studies have generated increasing empirical support for the presence of CCE in animals, few have conclusively demonstrated it. One possible explanation for the dearth of direct evidence for animal CCE is that existing experiments might not provide the requisite conditions. Therefore, some animals could be capable of CCE, but new methods are needed to detect the process. We identify key experimental limitations in the animal CCE literature, offer new methodologies for addressing them, and illustrate our methods using Temnothorax ants as a model system. In doing so, we introduce a broadly generalizable experimental paradigm for testing animal CCE.