Movatterモバイル変換

[0]ホーム
URL:

Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Advertisement

Nature
  • Letter
  • Published:

Cultures in chimpanzees

Naturevolume 399, pages682–685 (1999)Cite this article

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.

This is a preview of subscription content,access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Subscription info for Japanese customers

We have a dedicated website for our Japanese customers. Please go tonatureasia.com to subscribe to this journal.

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Distribution of behaviour patterns from band D inTable 1across six African study sites.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. McGrew, W. C. & Tutin, C. E. G. Evidence for a social custom in wild chimpanzees?Man13, 234–251 (1978).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Goodall, J.The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior(Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Nishida, T.The Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains: Sexual and Life History Strategies(Tokyo Univ. Press, Tokyo, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  4. McGrew, W. C.Chimpanzee Material Culture: Implications for Human Evolution(Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1992).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. Sugiyama, Y. inThe Use of Tools by Human and Non-human Primates(eds Berthelet, A. & Chavaillon, J.) 175–187 (Clarendon, Oxford, 1993).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  6. Wrangham, R. W., McGrew, W. C., de Waal, F. B. M. & Heltne, P. G. (eds)Chimpanzee Cultures(Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Boesch, C. The emergence of cultures among wild chimpanzees.Proc. Br. Acad.88, 251–268 (1996).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Bonner, J. T.The Evolution of Culture in Animals(Princeton Univ. Press, New Jersey, 1980).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Mundinger, P. C. Animal cultures and a general theory of cultural evolution.Ethol. Sociobiol.1, 183–223 (1980).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lefebvre, L. & Palameta, B. inSocial Learning: Psychological and Biological Perspectives(eds Zentall, T. & Galef, B. G. Jr) 141–164 (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  11. McGrew, W. C. Culture in non-human primates?Annu. Rev. Anthropol.27, 301–328 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Marler, P. & Tamura, M. Song ‘dialects’ in three populations of white-crowned sparrows.Science146, 1483–1486 (1964).

    Article ADS CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Catchpole, C. K. & Slater, P. J. B.Bird Song: Themes and Variations(Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1995).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Murdock, G. P.Ethnographic Atlas(Univ. Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 1967).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Kroeber, A. L. & Kluckhohn, C.Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions(Random House, New York, 1963).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Bloch, M. Language, anthropology and cognitive science.Man26, 183–198 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Nishida, T. inPrimate Societies(eds Smuts, B. B., Cheney, D. L., Seyfarth, R. M., Wrangham, R. W. & Struhsaker, T. T.) 462–474 (Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Whiten, A. & Ham, R. On the nature of imitation in the animal kingdom: reappraisal of a century of research.Adv. Study Behav.21, 239–283 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Imanishi, K. Identification: A process of enculturation in the subhuman society ofMacaca fuscata .Primates1, 1–29 (1957).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Huffman, M. inSocial Learning in Animals: The Roots of Culture(eds Heyes, C. M. & Galef, B. G.) 267–289 (Academic Press, London, 1996).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  21. Boesch, C., Marchesi, P., Marchesi, N., Fruth, B. & Joulian, F. Is nut cracking in wild chimpanzees a cultural behaviour?J. Hum. Evol.26, 325–338 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Galef, B. G. J The question of animal culture.Hum. Nature3, 157–178 (1992).

    Article CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Tomasello, M., Kruger, A. C. & Ratner, H. H. Cultural learning.Behav. Brain Sci.16, 495–552 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Whiten, A., Custance, D. M., Gomez, J.-C., Teixidor, P. & Bard, K. A. Imitative learning of artificial fruit-processing in children (Homo sapiens) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).J. Comp. Psychol.110, 3–14 (1996).

    Article CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Whiten, A. Imitation of the sequential structure of actions by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).J. Comp. Psychol.112, 270–281 (1998).

    Article CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Spence, K. W. Experimental studies of learning and the mental processes in infra-human primates.Psychol. Bull.34, 806–850 (1937).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Sumita, K., Kitahara-Frisch, J. & Norikoshi, K. The acquisition of stone tool use in captive chimpanzees.Primates26, 168–181 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Tomasello, M., Davis, Dasilv, M., Dasilv M. Camak, L. & Bard, K. Observational learning of tool-use by young chimpanzees.Hum. Evol.2, 175–183 (1987).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Paquett, D. Discovering and learning tool-use for fishing honey by captive chimpanzees.Hum. Evol.7, 17–30 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Nagell, K., Olguin, K. & Tomasello, M. Processes of social learning in the tool use of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and children (Homo sapiens).J. Comp. Psychol.107, 174–186 (1993).

    Article CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank T. Matsuzawa, G. Yamakoshi, H. Boesch, D. A. Collins, S. Kamenya, H.Matama, H. Mkono, E. Mpongo, J. Salala, M. Huffman, M. Kasagula, R. Nyundo, S. Uehara, K.Arnold, C. Assersohn, K. Fawcett, J. Kakura, Z. Kiwede, G. Muhumuza, N. Newton-Fisher, P.Pebsworth, E. Stokes, J. Tinka, A. Arcadi, C. Katongole, G. Isabiriye-Basuta, F. Mugurusi, M. Muller and M. Wilson for contributions to the database; D. A. Collins, D. I. Perrett and P. J. B. Slater for advice on the manuscript; and S. Smart for the graphics ofFig. 1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, KY16 9JU, St Andrews, UK

    A. Whiten

  2. Gombe Stream Research Centre, P.O. Box 185, Kigoma, Tanzania

    J. Goodall

  3. Department of Zoology and Department of Sociology, Gerontology and Anthropology, Miami University, Oxford, 45056, Ohio, USA

    W. C. McGrew

  4. Laboratory of Human Evolution Studies, Kyoto University, 606-01, Kyoto, Japan

    T. Nishida

  5. Institute of Biological Anthropology, Oxford University, 58 Banbury Road, OX2 6QS, Oxford, UK

    V. Reynolds

  6. Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 484-8506, Inuyama, Japan

    Y. Sugiyama

  7. Centre Internationale de Recherche Médicales de Franceville, BP 769, Franceville, Gabon

    C. E. G. Tutin

  8. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK

    C. E. G. Tutin

  9. Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachussetts, USA

    R. W. Wrangham

  10. Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Insellstrasse 22, 04301, Leipzig, Germany

    C. Boesch

Authors
  1. A. Whiten

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. Goodall

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. W. C. McGrew

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  4. T. Nishida

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  5. V. Reynolds

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  6. Y. Sugiyama

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  7. C. E. G. Tutin

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  8. R. W. Wrangham

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  9. C. Boesch

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Supplementary information

Supplementary information

An extended graphical database (unrefereed) of this material is also available (http://chimp.st-and.ac.uk/cultures). (DOC 25 kb)

Rights and permissions

About this article

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Advertisement

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for theNature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox.Sign up for Nature Briefing
[8]ページ先頭
©2009-2025 Movatter.jp