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.”
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.”