Celebrating Chimpanzee Cultures
When Jane Goodall began studying the wild chimpanzees of Gombe, she noticed that chimpanzees learn from one another. Reflecting on her observations on termite-fishing behaviour, in which the chimps use grass stems or sticks as tools, she wrote:
“It is a social tradition which represents the emergence of a primitive culture—if culture consists of behaviour patterns transmitted by imitation or tuition.”
The Diversity of Chimpanzee Tool Use
At the time, the idea that chimpanzees possess culture was revolutionary – and rejected by large parts of the scientific community. Yet the idea had sparked.
Many years later, as researchers began observing wild chimpanzees at additional field sites across Africa, it became possible to compare the behaviour of different chimpanzee groups. This revealed that chimpanzees use a remarkable variety of tools, not only for termite fishing but in many other contexts as well.
Chimpanzees use stones to crack open hard-shelled nuts, fashion leaf sponges to collect drinking water, and even use sharpened sticks as spears to hunt other animals, among many other examples. In some regions, chimpanzees use a sequence of two tools for termite fishing. First, they break open the hard outer surface of a termite mound with a sturdy stick. They then insert a flexible rod with a brush-like tip into the mound’s winding tunnels, where aggressive termites latch onto the fibres – only to be pulled out and eaten with gusto.
Chimpanzees Learn from One Another
For a long time, most researchers believed that animal behaviour was either genetically determined or acquired individually through trial and error. Chimpanzees, however, helped us understand that some behaviours are neither encoded in the genes nor learned independently. Instead, they are acquired socially through observation and imitation.
Chimpanzees are highly attentive to one another. As infants, they closely observe their mothers and later their peers. They spend years learning through observation and practice, including how to use tools effectively. Studies have shown that mastering particularly complex skills, such as nut-cracking, can take ten years or more.
From Social Learning to Culture
Not all chimpanzee groups use the same tools. Some use rods to fish for algae in still waters, while others do not, even though both algae and suitable tools are equally available in their homes. Whether a particular behaviour occurs in a group depends not on resource availability, but on the presence of knowledgeable chimp role models from whom others can learn.
Recent research has also shown that chimpanzees learn not only whether or not a tool is used, but how it is used. This is wonderfully illustrated by the distinctive body postures adopted during termite fishing by members of three chimpanzee groups in Central Africa. In the Wonga Wongue group, individuals lie on their sides while fishing for termites; in the Korup group, all individuals habitually lean on their elbows; yet the Goualougo chimps always sit upright. In each group, the knowledgeable individuals pass their termite fishing technique to other group members who readily adopt the same way of doing it– it is cultural.
We are only beginning to appreciate the extent of every-day behaviours that are socially learnt in chimpanzees—from the way they groom one another and the foods they eat to the way the children play.
Why This Matters
The sets of socially learnt behaviours of chimpanzee groups are passed down from one generation to the next, forming the unique cultural repertoire of each group. It can be taken as unique collective knowledge representing a body of experience accumulated over many generations within a particular environment and forming an important part of that group's heritage.
When chimpanzee communities disappear as a result of poaching and habitat loss, we lose more than individual animals or populations. We lose entire bodies of knowledge that have evolved over generations in specific ecological settings. Because some cultural behaviours may improve a group's ability to adapt and survive over the long term, this has important implications for conservation. To safeguard the future of chimpanzees, we must protect not only individuals, populations, and genetic diversity, but also their collective knowledge and rich cultural diversity.
By Dr. Rahel Noser, Jane Goodall Institute Switzerland
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