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.//