Overall our results support previous theory in the context of ‘learning what to eat’  that predicts LE can suffice to generate traditional differences between groups in patchy environments. Here we demonstrate that this result also holds in the context of skill learning with variable group sizes, stochastic demographics and evolving parameters. These findings lend support to the idea that traditional differences between groups, even with respect to skill learning, do not rely on cognitively demanding forms of social learning [21, 23].