Approaching humans for food is a behaviour transmitted from mothers to offspring in a large herbivore

Abstract Human-wildlife interactions, particularly artificial feeding, have led to significant behavioral changes in wildlife. Begging for food is a behavior commonly seen in species like gulls, seals and foxes across social media. There are concerns about whether this behavior is passed from parent to offspring, either through genetic inheritance or cultural transmission. In our model peri-urban deer population in Dublin, Ireland, we observed a subset of individuals consistently begging for food. We conducted a six-year longitudinal study involving 255 fawns from 146 mothers to investigate the transmission of begging behavior. We found that offspring of consistently begging mothers were more likely to beg for food than those whose mothers avoided humans. Neonatal personality also played a role in shaping offspring behavior: bolder (more risk taking) fawns were more likely to beg. Our novel results provide empirical evidence of intergenerational transmission of begging behavior. Combined with prior findings that begging mothers have heavier fawns at birth, that grow faster, and have higher first-year survival rates, our study suggests this behavioral trait may become more prevalent over generations, aligning with increasing reports of human-wildlife feeding interactions in urban areas.