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New research reveals chimpanzees can sustain multiple--tradition cultures
physorg.com — Scientists have long wondered if local animal cultures exist, and now, based on findings by researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University, the University of Texas and St. Andrews University, Scotland, they have their answer: Yes.
johndi- 503 diggs
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- TalkingBanana, on 10/11/2007, -24/+5The chimps, their evolving....
Quick, me must destroy them before its too late!- MarcQue, on 10/11/2007, -16/+8I, for one, welcome our new Chimpanzee Overlords, TalkingBanana.
- Misogyny, on 10/11/2007, -6/+30Perhaps someday they'll evolve enough to distinguish between "their" and "they're"...
- jake8689, on 10/11/2007, -5/+8Get your hands off me you DAMN DIRTY APES!!!!
- adrianmonk, on 10/11/2007, -11/+3Argh, this is off-topic, but that is a grating use of an em dash where an en dash is required.
OK, now I have that out of my system. - KnightMareInc, on 10/11/2007, -9/+4I thought this was something we already knew?I remember a while reading how different groups perform the same task differently(culture)?
- cykyc, on 10/11/2007, -5/+7Well, Great! While they're not quite yet up to the standards of the talking gorillas in The Illuminatus Trilogy!, we should start to look into taxing them to live on their land or making them become lathe operators :-)
- PURPLEDRINK, on 10/11/2007, -10/+9Dr Zaes! Dr Zaes!
- cykyc, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13How 'bout Dr. Zaius?
- cykyc, on 10/11/2007, -1/+13How 'bout Dr. Zaius?
- justintsmith, on 10/11/2007, -6/+10I hate every ape I see, from chimpan a to chimpanzee, no you'll never make a monkey out of me.
... I LOVE YOU DR. ZAES! - Spandia, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Ah, yes - the young ape with a shovel. I hear you're planning another archeological expedition. Cornelius, a friendly word of warning: as you dig for artifacts, be sure you don't bury your reputation.
- Dayyve, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11Fascinating stuff - so humans really don't act that different from apes when it comes to developing differing social cultures after all. God must have used the same plug-in for apes and humans for his Intelligent Design Pro 2.0 software. Just wish he would open-source it so we can start fixing all the bugs.
/"They finally made a monkey out of me!" - (greatest Planet of the Apes parody EVAR!) - Skywise, on 10/11/2007, -4/+4Okay, technically the study didn't prove that they could sustain a "culture" so much that they could share "techniques" and that shouldn't be that suprising as it's already been proven that techniques can be passed on.
Now get the chimps to tell stories around a campfire and I'll be impressed.- g30ff, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I have no idea why people are digging you down, a lot of researchers are very uncomfortable calling this culture (e.g. my thesis supervisor) and prefer to use the term "traditions" instead. Although these socially transmitted behaviours may seem to share something in common with human (cumulative) culture, the ratcheting effect we see in humans wherein innovations are contantly being incorporated into the common culture hasn't been demonstrated in any nonhuman animal (yet...).
"Now get the chimps to tell stories around a campfire and I'll be impressed."
or better yet, tell the same stories around campfires for a couple hundred years, and have them grow from personal war stories to something like Homer's Iliad--I think everyone would agree that to call that culture.
- g30ff, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I have no idea why people are digging you down, a lot of researchers are very uncomfortable calling this culture (e.g. my thesis supervisor) and prefer to use the term "traditions" instead. Although these socially transmitted behaviours may seem to share something in common with human (cumulative) culture, the ratcheting effect we see in humans wherein innovations are contantly being incorporated into the common culture hasn't been demonstrated in any nonhuman animal (yet...).
- gmavz, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2There's really only one thing humans can do that animals can't - speak about the past and the future. Animals, (especially chimps), do everything else we do on a smaller scale. This article doesn't surprise me.
- moghua, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Actually, although they cannot speak about it, it has been shown that the Scrub Jay thinks ahead. In effect, it plans for the future based on what it knows about the past.
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Birds_Plan_For_Future_Desires_999.html
- moghua, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Actually, although they cannot speak about it, it has been shown that the Scrub Jay thinks ahead. In effect, it plans for the future based on what it knows about the past.
- ATHEISTinHELL, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5So they are more evolved than right wing pundits. Tell us something we don't know.
- pentomino, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I've long suspected that great apes take quickly to culture. In the 1950's, there was a novelty act of chimps who were trained to shake hands with each other and have high tea. As their popularity waned, they were moved to a zoo, but they could not integrate with the chimps there, who didn't know what a handshake meant. So they were kept in isolation until their recent deaths.
Compare this against the often exaggerated claims for chimps to acquire language skills.
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