Transmission of Multiple Traditions within and between Chimpanzee Groups

Whiten, Andrew; Spiteri, Antoine; Horner, Victoria; Bonnie, Kristin E.; Lambeth, Susan P.; Schapiro, Steven J.; Waal, Frans B. M. de

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.05.031

Cited by 218 publications

(160 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…A combination of the two also is feasible. All three hypotheses are consistent with the recent experimental demonstration that chimpanzees can engage in conformity-based cultural transmission (37,38). However, discriminating among the hypotheses will require further longitudinal fieldwork.…”

Section: O B N O B O ( P a N I S C U S )supporting

confidence: 85%

Phylogenetic analyses of behavior support existence of culture among wild chimpanzees

Lycett

Collard

McGrew

2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Culture has long been considered to be not only unique to humans, but also responsible for making us qualitatively different from all other forms of life. In recent years, however, researchers studying chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have challenged this idea. Natural populations of chimpanzees have been found to vary greatly in their behavior. Because many of these interpopulation differences cannot be readily explained by ecological factors, it has been argued that they result from social learning and, therefore, can be regarded as cultural variations. Recent studies showing social transmission in captive chimpanzee populations suggest that this hypothesis is plausible. However, the culture hypothesis has been questioned on the grounds that the behavioral variation may be explained at a proximate level by genetic differences between subspecies. Here we use cladistic analyses of the major cross-site behavioral data set to test the hypothesis that the behavioral differences among the best-documented chimpanzee populations are genetically determined. If behavioral diversity is primarily the product of genetic differences between subspecies, then population data should show less phylogenetic structure when data from a single subspecies (P. t. schweinfurthii) are compared with data from two subspecies (P. t. verus and P. t. schweinfurthii) analyzed together. Our findings are inconsistent with the hypothesis that the observed behavioral patterns of wild chimpanzee populations can be explained primarily by genetic differences between subspecies. Instead, our results support the suggestion that the behavioral patterns are the product of social learning and, therefore, can be considered cultural.social learning ͉ cultural transmission ͉ Pan troglodytes ͉ cladistics

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Section: O B N O B O ( P a N I S C U S )supporting

confidence: 85%

Phylogenetic analyses of behavior support existence of culture among wild chimpanzees

Lycett

Collard

McGrew

2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…In a recent study on translocation events of zoo chimpanzees (which mimics the immigration events in the wild), it was found that the immigrating individuals conform to vocalization pattern of their new group [81]. Studies in captivity have shown that adjustments based on the desire to create or maintain a positive group sense might exist in chimpanzees [64,65,82,83]. Adjusting behaviour potentially could reduce differences between the local group member and the immigrant and favour acceptance into the group.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primate archaeology reveals cultural transmission in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus)

Luncz

Wittig

Boesch

2015

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Recovering evidence of past human activities enables us to recreate behaviour where direct observations are missing. Here, we apply archaeological methods to further investigate cultural transmission processes in percussive tool use among neighbouring chimpanzee communities in the Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Differences in the selection of nut-cracking tools between neighbouring groups are maintained over time, despite frequent female transfer, which leads to persistent cultural diversity between chimpanzee groups. Through the recovery of used tools in the suggested natal territory of immigrants, we have been able to reconstruct the tool material selection of females prior to migration. In combination with direct observations of tool selection of local residents and immigrants after migration, we uncovered temporal changes in tool selection for immigrating females. After controlling for ecological differences between territories of immigrants and residents our data suggest that immigrants abandoned their previous tool preference and adopted the pattern of their new community, despite previous personal proficiency of the same foraging task. Our study adds to the growing body of knowledge on the importance of conformist tendencies in animals.

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“…However, the type and amount of information chimpanzees are gleaning and replicating from an observation are still open to debate (Byrne & Russon 1998;Zentall 2006). In addition, although several studies have used increasingly complex tasks involving hierarchical steps (Whiten 2002;Whiten et al 2007;Marshall-Pescini & Whiten 2008), the complexity of the foraging task itself is typically manipulated, while the required tool remains relatively simple (e.g. a rake).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A potent effect of observational learning on chimpanzee tool construction

et al. 2009

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Although tool use occurs in diverse species, its complexity may mark an important distinction between humans and other animals. Chimpanzee tool use has many similarities to that seen in humans, yet evidence of the cumulatively complex and constructive technologies common in human populations remains absent in free-ranging chimpanzees. Here we provide the first evidence that chimpanzees have a latent capacity to socially learn to construct a composite tool. Fifty chimpanzees were assigned to one of five demonstration conditions that varied in the amount and type of information available in video footage of a conspecific. Chimpanzees exposed to complete footage of a chimpanzee combining the two components to retrieve a reward learned to combine the tools significantly more than those exposed to more restricted information. In a follow-up test, chimpanzees that constructed tools after watching the complete demonstration tended to do so even when the reward was within reach of the unmodified components, whereas those that spontaneously solved the task (without seeing the modification process) combined only when necessary. Social learning, therefore, had a powerful effect in instilling a marked persistence in the use of a complex technique at the cost of efficiency, inhibiting insightful tool use.

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Transmission of Multiple Traditions within and between Chimpanzee Groups

Cited by 218 publications

References 22 publications

Phylogenetic analyses of behavior support existence of culture among wild chimpanzees

Phylogenetic analyses of behavior support existence of culture among wild chimpanzees

Primate archaeology reveals cultural transmission in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus)

A potent effect of observational learning on chimpanzee tool construction

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