The question of animal culture |
| |
Authors: | Bennett G Galef |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Psychology, McMaster University, L8S 4K1 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| |
Abstract: | In this paper I consider whether traditional behaviors of animals, like traditions of humans, are transmitted by imitation learning. Review of the literature on problem solving by captive primates, and detailed consideration of two widely cited instances of purported learning by imitation and of culture in free-living primates (sweet-potato washing by Japanese macaques and termite fishing by chimpanzees), suggests that nonhuman primates do not learn to solve problems by imitation. It may, therefore, be misleading to treat animal traditions and human culture as homologous (rather than analogous) and to refer to animal traditions as cultural. |
| |
Keywords: | Animal tradition Animal culture Imitation and learning Koshima Island (Japan) Gombe National Park (Tanzania) Nonhuman primates |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|