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Copy or innovate? Study sheds light on chimp culture
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Chimp culture: A chimpanzee perches in a tree in Nimba Range in Guinea, South Africa, as seen in this handout photo released on Jan. 24, 2022. A study on chimpanzee behavior suggests that the simian species has cumulative culture, just like human beings. (AFP/Kathelijne Koops)
C
himpanzees in one part of Guinea crack and eat nuts while others decline to do so, even when offered tools, research published on Monday has found, and the difference could shed light on their culture.
As humans, we are said to have cumulative culture: skills and technologies are transmitted and refined from generation to generation, producing behaviors more sophisticated than a single person could dream up.
Some experts believe this is unique to humans, and that traits in chimps like tool use instead develop spontaneously in individuals.
Their theory argues that animals can innovate certain behaviors without a model to copy.
Evidence for this comes in part from captive chimps that have been seen apparently independently developing simple tool use like scooping with a stick and sponging with a leaf.
But such behaviors differ from comparatively more complex techniques like cracking nuts, and captivity is vastly different to the wild.
So Kathelijne Koops, a professor in the University of Zurich's anthropology department, designed a series of experiments involving wild chimpanzees in Guinea.
