“Do
Chimpanzees Have Culture?”
The question “do chimpanzees have culture?” has been
debated throughout the world. Many Anthropologists and scientists
believe that this question is problematic because nobody really knows
what culture is. So what is
culture and what determines it?
Russell Tuttle
believes that “symbolism is a defining aspect of culture.”
However, Victoria Horner believes that it is the “transmission of
behaviour by non-genetic means.”
These two examples of
culture are completely different from each other. They both try and
portray, and come up with an answer to what culture could be, but
neither of them really hit the target; they aren't detailed enough to
say what culture is. Therefore, if both try and portray culture, and
if both are technically correct – because nobody really knows how
to define it – then can there be more than one type of culture?
I believe that culture
is the product of manipulation within ourselves by social,
historical, environmental and biological factors.
Furthermore, taking my
definition of culture and Horner's, it is easy to see that culture
can be learnt.
Through observation of
our own young, we know that children imitate to learn. They copy
actions, sentence patterns and so on from their parents or from the
people around them to stimulate brain development. This is called the
Social Learning Theory (SLT).
For there to be
culture, ideas and a way of life have to be passed on to the future
generations. This culture has to be learnt. We've noticed that
animals teach each other all the time. It has been seen that parent
animals try to teach their young, e.g. A domesticated Bitch teaching
her pup to climb up and down the stairs.
We've also witnessed
teaching behaviours in Chimpanzees.
Sanz
and Morgan of the Max Planck Institute observed Chimpanzees in the
wild using and making tools. They observed one Chimpanzee breaking a
hole into a Termite mound and then creating a brush-like stick by
fraying the end to prod into the hole. This collected 10 times as
many Termites. They then observed other Chimpanzees replicating this
method. This is a SLT example. The first Chimpanzee noticed that this
method was more beneficial than the former method – it produced 10
times as much Termites,
and then taught the others, or the others imitated this method. The
whole group would soon adopt this method, therefore it would pass
throughout the group and throughout the group's generations. How
could this not be culture?
It
is clear that as Human beings, we have symbols which have another
meaning. Tuttle believes that “symbolism is a defining aspect of
culture”, therefore we have culture. However, can Chimpanzees show
understanding of symbols and recognize their meanings?
Charlotte
Uhlenbroek also observed another easier method of producing more
food. She observed Chimpanzees cracking nuts open with two different
stones, one used as a hammer and one used as an anvil. She noticed
the others replicating this procedure – even the young. She
theorised that the young did not know why they were doing it but
followed to gain a sense of “identity and belonging.” This
suggests that the two stones used to crack the nuts open were chosen,
rather than just picked up off of the ground. The stones would have
to have specific characteristic to be able to be used correctly.
Thus, the Chimpanzees would have had to think about it, therefore
these rocks have meaning.
Tuttle
does not believe that Chimpanzees could have culture. He believes
that the Chimpanzees did not realize or show understanding that the
rocks had meaning. He stays that “If they were doing it because
that rock and that nut and anvil represented something, then it would
be culture.” However, the rocks had to have meant something –
even if it was a 'primitive' thought like 'more food.' It is possible
that a Chimpanzee could find two similar rocks again and recognize
that they both mean easy, and more food. So these types of rocks have
to be symbols of 'easy to get' and 'more food.' Therefore, if they
are symbols, this supports the idea that Chimpanzees have culture.
Another
study also provides support of the idea that Chimpanzees have
culture. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh from Georgia University shows Panbanisha
– a Chimpanzee – link written symbols with certain heard words
and whom can show understanding of word order to follow orders to
give something to someone. The fact that Panbanisha can understand
the symbols which she uses to make sentences and understand word
prompts is an indication that Chimpanzees can understand symbolism.
For example, the word 'egg' is a flower picture. We'd expect that the
symbol for an egg would be an egg, however this is not the case –
it is a flower. She recognizes the picture 'flower' means the term
'egg'. This is abstract thinking. Panbanisha knows language which a
four year old human would. The flower represented 'egg' - this shows
symbolism. Language was taught to her. All of this suggests the idea
that Chimpanzees have culture.
On
the other hand, Tuttle and Bennett Galef believe that Chimpanzees do
not have culture. They avoid the world “culture” when describing
Chimpanzees' behaviours. “If you want to call what Chimpanzees have
culture, then we'll have to find a new word for what it is humans
have, because they're just totally different from each other,” says
Galef, “It's reflected in the fact that we're building cathedrals
and walking on the Moon, and they still sit naked in the rain.”
There
are disagreements for what it is called, and that there is a lack of
data.
“You
want to call it culture? Fine, I'll call it learned behaviour
patterns.”
It's
true. What Chimpanzees have is learned behaviour, but we also learn
behaviour and call it 'culture'! There is an assured primitivity to
what Chimpanzees have, but the fact that there is a likeness to what
we have cannot go ignored.
Another
strong case to prove that Chimpanzees have culture is Franz De Waal's
and Andy Whitten's study to see if Chimpanzees have culture. Horner
is also involved with this experiment. They show us a machine
containing M&Ms. The machine has two different release methods.
The two chosen Chimpanzees are taught how to release the M&Ms
differently. One is taught to lift the releaser and the other is
taught to push the releaser to release the M&Ms. They then were
placed back into their separate packs. They observed the two
Chimpanzees showing the others how to release the M&Ms the way
they were taught to. (This supports social manipulation as being a
feature of culture and the SLT.) This automatically separates them
into different communities with different cultures. The way they were
told to release the M&Ms was passed throughout the two groups –
they inadvertently created two different cultures by passing that
information on, which shows their capacity for culture.
In
conclusion, I believe that Chimpanzees do have a culture. This
culture is definitely more primitive and simple than our own which
has adapted overtime to become a more meaningful and detailed
representation of the manipulation of social, historical,
environmental and biological factors within ourselves.
Chimpanzees
are only going to be able to have a simpler culture than our own
because we are more advanced than them. However what they have is
still a culture due to the fact that they pass on beneficial
information they have learnt to other Chimpanzees: The Sanz and
Morgan Chimpanzees which developed a more sufficient way of getting
Termites, Charlotte Uhlenbroek's Chimpanzees cracking nuts open and
their young imitating, Sue Savage-Runbaug's Chimpanzee – Panbanisha
- understanding and recognizing sentence patterns and symbols, and
Franz De Waal, Andy Whiten and Victoria Horner's Chimanzees
separating their communities and producing two new cultures by
releasing M&Ms.
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