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Cultures in chimpanzees

Author

Listed:
  • A. Whiten

    (Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews)

  • J. Goodall

    (Gombe Stream Research Centre)

  • W. C. McGrew

    (Gerontology and Anthropology, Miami University)

  • T. Nishida

    (Laboratory of Human Evolution Studies, Kyoto University)

  • V. Reynolds

    (Institute of Biological Anthropology, Oxford University)

  • Y. Sugiyama

    (Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University)

  • C. E. G. Tutin

    (Centre Internationale de Recherche Médicales de Franceville
    University of Stirling)

  • R. W. Wrangham

    (Harvard University)

  • C. Boesch

    (Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)

Abstract

As an increasing number of field studies of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have achieved long-term status across Africa, differences in the behavioural repertoires described have become apparent that suggest there is significant cultural variation1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Here we present a systematic synthesis of this information from the seven most long-term studies, which together have accumulated 151 years of chimpanzee observation. This comprehensive analysis reveals patterns of variation that are far more extensive than have previously been documented for any animal species except humans8,9,10,11. We find that 39 different behaviour patterns, including tool usage, grooming and courtship behaviours, are customary or habitual in some communities but are absent in others where ecological explanations have been discounted. Among mammalian and avian species, cultural variation has previously been identified only for single behaviour patterns, such as the local dialects of song-birds12,13. The extensive, multiple variations now documented for chimpanzees are thus without parallel. Moreover, the combined repertoire of these behaviour patterns in each chimpanzee community is itself highly distinctive, a phenomenon characteristic of human cultures14 but previously unrecognised in non-human species.

Suggested Citation

  • A. Whiten & J. Goodall & W. C. McGrew & T. Nishida & V. Reynolds & Y. Sugiyama & C. E. G. Tutin & R. W. Wrangham & C. Boesch, 1999. "Cultures in chimpanzees," Nature, Nature, vol. 399(6737), pages 682-685, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:399:y:1999:i:6737:d:10.1038_21415
    DOI: 10.1038/21415
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Sueur, Cédric & Fourneret, Eric & Espinosa, Romain, 2023. "Animal capital: a new way to define human-animal bond in view of global changes," OSF Preprints svg7x, Center for Open Science.
    2. Suren Basov, 2002. "Imitation And Social Learning," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 843, The University of Melbourne.
    3. John Gerring & Paul A. Barresi, 2003. "Putting Ordinary Language to Work," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 15(2), pages 201-232, April.
    4. Enquist, M. & Ghirlanda, S. & Jarrick, A. & Wachtmeister, C.-A., 2008. "Why does human culture increase exponentially?," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 46-55.
    5. Rachel L Kendal & Jeremy R Kendal & Will Hoppitt & Kevin N Laland, 2009. "Identifying Social Learning in Animal Populations: A New ‘Option-Bias’ Method," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(8), pages 1-9, August.
    6. Ohtsuki, Hisashi & Wakano, Joe Yuichiro & Kobayashi, Yutaka, 2017. "Inclusive fitness analysis of cumulative cultural evolution in an island-structured population," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 13-23.
    7. James Winters, 2019. "Escaping optimization traps: the role of cultural adaptation and cultural exaptation in facilitating open-ended cumulative dynamics," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Hopkins, William D. & Li, Xiang & Roberts, Neil, 2019. "More intelligent chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have larger brains and increased cortical thickness," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 18-24.
    9. Wibowo, Ferry Wahyu & Sediyono, Eko & Purnomo, Hindriyanto Dwi, 2022. "Chimpanzee leader election optimization," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 68-95.
    10. Pratyusha Sharma & Shane Gero & Roger Payne & David F. Gruber & Daniela Rus & Antonio Torralba & Jacob Andreas, 2024. "Contextual and combinatorial structure in sperm whale vocalisations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    11. Dominique Guillo & Nicolas Claidière, 2020. "Do guide dogs have culture? The case of indirect social learning," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, December.
    12. Gifford, Adam, 2013. "Sociality, trust, kinship and cultural evolution," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 218-227.
    13. Elisa Bandini & Rachel A. Harrison & Alba Motes-Rodrigo, 2022. "Examining the suitability of extant primates as models of hominin stone tool culture," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.

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