Culture in the Animal Kingdom
People have long thought/that culture is what makes humans different from other animals.// But recent studies have shown/that this may not be the case.// Let’s examine various examples of “animal culture.”//

　　Julie started a fashion fad.// The 18-year-old chimpanzee stuck blades of grass into her ears/and went around a wildlife sanctuary in Zambia/showing off her new accessories.// The other chimpanzees couldn’t take their eyes off her.// Pretty soon,/they were also sticking grass/in their ears.// Eight out of the 10 in the group/took up the fad.//
　　Julie died soon after,/but her grass-in-the-ear fashion trend/still lives on among her followers.// The tradition arose spontaneously/and spread through social networks,/very much like a human fad.//
　　This is just one of many surprising examples of animal behavior/that lead animal researchers to talk about animal “culture.”//
Definition of “Culture”//
　　It was once thought that only human beings have culture.// We have art, science, and music;/animals have only instinct.// But that belief turns out to be misguided.// Many new findings about animal behavior tell us/that “culture,”/as many biologists now understand it,/is not exclusive to humans.//
　　The idea that animals have culture/may seem like nonsense.// If “culture” means symphony orchestras,/novels like The Tale of Genji,/and museums like the Louvre,/it is obvious that animals do not have culture.// But that is not how these scientists define culture.//
　　Andrew Whiten,/an evolutionary psychologist,/defines culture as behavior/that can be passed from one individual in a group to another individual,/and which then spreads across the group/and can be passed down through generations.//
　　If we use that definition,/evidence is mounting that some animals/—like Julie the chimp fashionista  and her followers/—also have culture.//


Dressing Up//
　　Chimps and humans are not the only creatures/who like to dress up.// Some birds add material to their feathers/to change their appearance,/much like humans use makeup.// Some vultures rub their heads, necks, and bodies/in iron-rich soil,/which gives them a reddish-brown hue.//
　　Bowerbirds in Australia and New Guinea/build elaborately-decorated nests.// Male bowerbirds make entrances (or bowers)/leading to their nests,/decorated with shiny stones, charcoal,/and colorful objects of all sorts,/including bottle caps.// The bowers attract females,/so, after all,/building them may be a matter of instinct.// However,/each bower is unique/and the design changes year by year.//


Lobtail Feeding//
　　A long way away,/in the North Atlantic Ocean,/whales also exhibit a kind of culture.// Ed Yong,/a science journalist,/writes about social learning among whales://
　　In 1980,/a humpback whale in the Gulf of Maine/started doing something different.// All its neighbors would catch small fish/by swimming in circles below them,/blowing curtains of bubbles,/and then plunging straight up.// Then one individual,/out of the blue,/started smacking the water surface with its tail/before diving down/and blowing bubbles.//
　　This behavior is called “lobtail feeding,”/and no one knows why it works.// Whatever the benefit,/it went viral.// Just eight years/after the first innovative whale started doing it,/20 percent of the Maine humpbacks/had picked up the technique.// Now,/it’s more like 40 percent.// What began as one whale slapping the water/is now a tradition.// The obvious explanation/is that the whales were learning from each other.//
　　Skeptics will argue/that there could be other explanations.// The lobtail technique may have a genetic basis/and be passed down without social learning.// Maybe environmental changes are responsible.//
　　But a group of researchers used the whale data/to simulate the spread of lobtail feeding.// The results were so clear/that the leader of the research team concluded/that social learning was important in the spread of the behavior.//


Coat Hanger Nests//
　　Closer to home,/since around 2005/Tokyoites have been watching a remarkable experiment/in social learning among crows.// Ordinarily,/crows use twigs and natural material/to build their nests.// However,/natural materials are hard to come by/in the busy city,/so the birds settle for the next best thing:/coat hangers.// The first photo of a coat hanger nest/was posted in 2005.// Just as lobtail feeding began with one humpback whale/and then was passed on by social learning,/so coat hanger nest-building/has passed to another generation of crows.// There are now so many coat hanger nests/that they are becoming a problem.// When the crows build nests on power poles,/it can cause electrical shorts.// The electric company has to send out crews/to take down the nests.//


Migration//
　　More evidence of social learning/comes from the study of animal migration,/which for a long time was thought to be instinctive.//
　　Peter Richerson,/a researcher on human cultural evolution,/studies migration.// Recent observations appear to show/that migratory animals, birds, and even butterflies/plan their routes and adjust them for changing circumstances.// Young members of the group/have to learn the route from adults.//
　　One dramatic example of social learning among migratory creatures/involves whooping cranes.// In the late 20th century,/whooping cranes became almost extinct.// To save the species,/a small flock of cranes was introduced in Wisconsin.// Cranes must migrate to a warmer climate in winter,/and there were no experienced cranes/to teach the young chicks the route.// The flock was saved by a man in a crane suit/flying a light airplane.// The birds quickly learned to follow their human guide.// He led them on a month-long 1,250-mile flight/to Florida.//

　　Is there culture in the animal kingdom?//
　　Whiten says,/“Other species were thought to live by instinct/and some ability to learn,/but only humans had culture.// Over recent decades,/a rapidly growing body of research/has increasingly revealed a very different picture.”//
　　Richerson was once reluctant/to talk about animal “culture” at all.// However,/he has changed his mind.// He says,/“This is a golden age of animal culture/and nonhuman learning studies.”//