It may be surprising in a chapter on nonhuman primates to see a discussion of culture. After all, culture is considered by many, including cultural anthropologists, to be a distinguishing characteristic of humans. Indeed, some anthropologists question claims of culture in primates and other animals. Definitions of animal culture focus on specific behaviors that are unique to one population. Anthropological definitions of human culture emphasize shared ideology (e.g., values, morals, beliefs) and symbols, not just behavior. Using this definition, some cultural anthropologists view primates as lacking culture because of the absence of symbolic life (e.g., religion). However, the longer we study primate groups and populations, the more insight we gain into primate behavioral variation. If we define culture as the shared behavior that is passed on from one generation to the next through social learning (enculturation), then we must view at least some of the behavioral variation we see in primates as forms of cultural tradition, or a distinctive pattern of behavior shared by multiple individuals in a social group that persists over time (Whitten 2001).
Definition: culture
A set of beliefs, morals, values, practices, and symbols that are learned and shared. The shared behavior that is passed on from one generation to the next through social learning (enculturation).
Definition: enculturation
The process of learning culture.
Definition: cultural tradition
A distinctive pattern of behavior shared by multiple individuals in a social group, which persists over time and is acquired through social learning.
Examples of Culture in Primates
Chimpanzee Culture
Due to both their high level of intelligence and the large number of long-term studies on several different populations, chimpanzees provide the best example of cultural tradition in primates. Research on a variety of animals, including fish, rodents, birds, and monkeys indicate the transmission of a single behavior pattern through social learning, resulting in cultural variation. But chimpanzees, along with orangutans, are the only species other than humans to express cultural variation in multiple behavioral patterns. Examining behavioral variation across chimpanzee study sites, researchers have identified over 40 cultural traditions, or distinct behavioral patterns, in chimpanzees (Whiten 2011). These cultural traditions span the gamut from population-specific prey preferences to tool-use techniques, hunting strategies, and social behaviors.
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Tool-assisted hunting by a chimpanzee at Fongoli, Sénégal. An adult male chimpanzee uses a tree branch with a modified end to (a–c) stab into a cavity within a hollow tree branch that houses a galago. He ultimately captures the galago as (d) his adolescent brother looks on.
It is not just the sheer number of cultural traditions that make chimpanzee culture so fascinating. It is that each chimpanzee community displays a unique cultural profile defined by a subset of the known traditions. For example, in Tanzania, chimpanzees fish for termites by poking twigs (which they’ve stripped) into termite mounds. But in Gambia, they use modified twigs to extract honey from holes in trees. In Fongoli, Sénégal, chimpanzees use sticks as “spears” that they stab into tree cavities to hunt for galagos (Figure 6.5.1). Multiple chimpanzee populations use use a “hammer and anvil” to crack open nuts, but the techniques differ. In some populations, chimps place a nut on a large flat rock and use a stone “hammer” to crack it open; in others, they use pieces of wood. Chimpanzees in Guinea use three stones for nut cracking: one as the anvil, the second one as the hammer, and a third as a wedge to secure the anvil (McGrew 1998). The National Geographic video “Chimps and Tools” (2009)[1] provides a glimpse into some of the known variation in chimpanzee tool use. Because the cultural traditions are so diverse and unique, if a researcher can observe enough of a chimpanzee’s behavior, that individual can be assigned to a specific community, much in the same way a human being can be associated with a specific culture based on his or her behavior (Whiten 2011).
National Geographic. February 4, 2009 “Chimps and Tools.” Accessed December 27, 2022. https://youtu.be/o2TBicMRLtA.
So how do chimpanzee cultures develop, and how does cultural transmission occur? Although we do not know for sure how chimpanzee cultural traditions develop initially, it is possible that different groups invent, either accidentally or deliberately, certain behaviors that other individuals copy. There is little evidence currently to support the idea that chimpanzees actively teach one another a new behavior, so it appears that they learn through observation and practice. This lack of teaching is one reason that some primatologists call the traditions in chimpanzees (and other primates) “pre-culture.” However, immigration between communities does appear to be an important avenue of cultural transmission in chimpanzees, much as it is between human cultures. Immigrants (typically females) may bring cultural traditions to their new community, which residents observe and learn. Conversely, immigrants may observe and learn a cultural tradition practiced in their new community (Whiten 2011).
Cultural Transmission in Macaques
Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Japanese macaques using the Jigokudani Hot Spring in Nagano Prefecture, Japan.
Two monkey species are well known for behavioral variation that has been called “pre-cultural” by some primatologists: Japanese macaques and capuchins. The transmission of unique foraging behaviors through a provisioned group of Japanese macaques on Koshima Island is well known (McGrew 1998). In an effort to keep the monkeys nearby, researchers provided them with piles of sweet potatoes. A juvenile female named Imo spontaneously washed a muddy sweet potato in a stream. This new food-processing technique first spread among other juveniles and then gradually to older individuals. Within 30 years, it had spread across generations, and 46 of 57 monkeys in the group engaged in the behavior. Another example comes from a group living far to the north, in the snowy forests of Honshu. Researchers threw apples into hot springs to record the monkeys’ behavior. Not only did the monkeys enter the springs to retrieve the apples, but over multiple years, they learned to immerse themselves in the hot springs to keep warm when not foraging (McGrew 1998; Figure 6.5.2; watch Japanese macaques using hot springs in the National Geographic video “Meditative Snow Monkeys Hang Out in Hot Springs” (2015)[2]. Some primatologists discount the significance of these (pre)cultural traditions since they began as a result of humans providing food to the monkeys and are therefore not “natural” behaviors. However, the behaviors have changed over time, even though the underlying provisioning either did not change or ceased altogether (McGrew 1998). For example, although sweet potato washing started in freshwater, it gradually shifted to seawater, apparently to add salt for flavor. Thirty years after the behavior started, the most common form involved dipping the potato into salt water, even if it was clean. Similarly, female macaques entering the hot springs initially left their young infants at the edge, but today juveniles play and even swim underwater in the hot springs. These examples share several characteristics with human culture, including invention or modification of behavior, transmission of behavior between individuals, and the persistence of the behavior across generations (McGrew 1998).
National Geographic. April 18, 2015. “Meditative Snow Monkeys Hang Out in Hot Springs.” Accessed December 27, 2022. https://youtu.be/Aat9O85ynsI
CONCLUSION
Primates are socially complex and extremely intelligent. Highly adaptable, they display significant variation in diet, habitat, and behavior. By studying primates in their natural habitats, we learn how their behavior and morphology are influenced by ecology, including the foods they eat and the other species with which they live. As our closest living relatives, primates provide important insights into the evolution of human social behavior, language, and culture. These are topics you will learn about in later chapters of this book.
REFERENCES
McGrew, W. C. 1998. “Culture in Nonhuman Primates?” Annual Review of Anthropology 27 (1): 301–328.
Whiten, Andrew. 2011. “The Scope of Culture in Chimpanzees, Humans and Ancestral Apes.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 366 (1,567): 997–1,007.
Whitten, Patricia L. 1983. “Diet and Dominance among Female Vervet Monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops).” American Journal of Primatology 5 (2): 139–159.
FIGURE ATTRIBUTIONS
Figure 6.5.1 Pan troglodytes, tool use in Senegal by J. D. Pruetz, P. Bertolani, K. Boyer Ontl, S. Lindshield, M. Shelley, and E. G. Wessling is used under aCC BY 4.0 License.
Figure 6.5.2 Jigokudani hotspring in Nagano Japan 001 by Yosemite is used under aCC BY-SA 3.0 License.
VIDEOS
National Geographic. February 4, 2009. “Chimps and Tools.” Accessed December 27, 2022.https://youtu.be/o2TBicMRLtA↵
National Geographic. April 18, 2015. “Meditative Snow Monkeys Hang Out in Hot Springs.” Accessed December 27, 2022.https://youtu.be/Aat9O85ynsI
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Tool-assisted hunting by a chimpanzee at Fongoli, Sénégal. An adult male chimpanzee uses a tree branch with a modified end to (a–c) stab into a cavity within a hollow tree branch that houses a galago. He ultimately captures the galago as (d) his adolescent brother looks on.
Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Japanese macaques using the Jigokudani Hot Spring in Nagano Prefecture, Japan.