Reading 5

The Culture of Chimpanzees
Humankind's nearest relative is even doser than we thought: chimpanzees

display remarkable behaviours that can only be described as social customs
passed on from generation to generation.
A. Researchers have studied the similarities between chimpanzees and humans
for years, but in the past decade they have determined that these resemblances
run much deeper than anyone first thought. For instance, the nut cracking
observed in the Tai Forest is far from a simple chimpanzee behaviour; rather it is
a singular adaptation found only in that particular part of Africa and a trait that
biologists consider to be an expression of chimpanzee culture. Scientists
frequently use the term “culture” to describe elementary animal behaviours, but
as it turns out, the rich and varied cultural traditions found among chimpanzees
are second in complexity only to human traditions.
B. During the past two years, an unprecedented scientific collaboration,
involving every major research group studying chimpanzees, has documented a
multitude of distinct cultural patterns extending across Africa, in actions ranging
from the animals’ use of tools to their forms of communications and social
customs. This emerging picture of chimpanzees not only affects how we think of
these amazing creatures but also alters human beings’ conception of our own
uniqueness and hints at ancient foundations for extraordinary capacity for
culture.
C. Homo sapiens and Pan troglodytes have coexisted for hundreds of millennia
and share more than 98 percent of their genetic material, yet only 40 years ago
we still knew next to nothing about chimpanzee behaviour in the wild. That
began to change in the 1960s, when Toshisada Nishida of Kyoto University in
Japan and Jane Goodall began their studies of wild chimpanzees at two field
sites in Tanzania. Goodall’s research station at Gombe—the first of its kind—is
more famous.
D. In these initial studies, as the chimpanzees became accustomed to close
observation, the remarkable discoveries began. Researchers witnessed a range of
unexpected behaviours, including fashioning and using tools, hunting, meat
eating, food sharing and lethal fights between members of neighbouring
communities. In the years that followed, other primatologists set up camp
elsewhere, and, despite all the financial, political and logistical problems that
can beset African fieldwork, several of these out-posts became truly long-term
projects. As a result, we live in an unprecedented time, when an intimate and
comprehensive scientific record of chimpanzees’ lives at last exists not just for
one but for several communities spread across Africa.
E. As early as 1973, Goodall recorded 13 forms of tool use as well as eight
social activities that appeared to differ between the Gombe chimpanzees and
chimpanzee populations elsewhere. She ventured that some variations had what
she termed a cultural origin. But what exactly did Goodall mean by “culture”?
The diversity of human cultures extends from technological variations to
marriage rituals, from culinary habits to myths and legends. Animals do not
have myths and legends, of course. But they do have the capacity to pass on
behavioural traits from generation to generation, not through their genes but by
learning. For biologists, this is the fundamental criterion for a cultural trait: it
must be something that can be learned by observing the established skills of
others and thus passed on to future generations.
F. What of the implications for chimpanzees themselves? We must highlight the
tragic loss of chimpanzees, whose populations are being decimated just when we
are at last coming to appreciate these astonishing animals more completely. The
bushmeat trade is particularly alarming: logging has driven roadways into the
forests that are now used to ship wild-animal meat— including chimpanzee
meat—to consumers as far afield as Europe. Such destruction threatens not only
the animals themselves but also a host of fascinatingly different ape cultures.
G. Perhaps the cultural richness of the ape may yet help in its salvation,
however. Some conservation efforts have already altered the attitudes of some
local people. A few organizations have begun to show videotapes illustrating the
cognitive prowess of chimpanzees. One Zairian viewer was heard to exclaim,
“Ah, this ape is so like me, I can no longer eat him.”
H. How an international team of chimpanzee experts conducted the most
comprehensive survey of the animals ever attempted? Scientists have been
investigating chimpanzee culture for several decades, but too often their studies
have contained a crucial flaw. Most attempts to document cultural diversity
among chimpanzees have relied solely on officially published accounts of the
behaviours recorded at each research site. But this approach probably overlooks
a good deal of cultural variation for three reasons.
I. Firstly, scientists typically don’t publish an extensive list of all the activities
they do not see at a particular location. Yet this is exactly what we need to know
—which behaviours were and were not observed at each site. Second, many
reports describe chimpanzee behaviours without saying how common they are;
without this information, we can’t determine whether a particular action was a
once-in-a-lifetime aberration or a routine event that should be considered part of
the animals’ culture. Finally, researchers’ descriptions of potentially significant
chimpanzee behaviour frequently lack sufficient detail, making it difficult for
scientists working at other spots to record the presence or absence of the
activities.
J. To remedy these problems, the two of us decided to take a new approach. We
asked field researchers at each site for a list of all the behaviours they suspected
were local traditions. With this information in hand, we pulled together a
comprehensive list of 65 candidates for cultural behaviours.
K. Then we distributed our list to the team leaders at each site. In consultation
with their colleagues, they classified each behaviour in terms of its occurrence
or absence in the chimpanzee community studied. The key categories were
customary behaviour, habitual, present, absent, and unknown. We should note,
however, that certain cultural traits are no doubt passed on by a combination of
imitation and simpler kinds of social learning. Either way, learning from elders
is crucial to growing up as a competent wild chimpanzee.
Questions 23 - 26
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND / OR A NUMBER from
passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 23-26 on your answer
sheet.
23. When did the unexpected discoveries of chimpanzee behaviour start?
........................................................................................................................
24. Which country is the research site of Toshisada Nishida and Jane Goodall?
........................................................................................................................
25. What did the chimpanzees have to get used to in the initial study?
........................................................................................................................
26. What term did Jane Goodall use in 1973 to explain groups of chimpanzees
using tools differently?
........................................................................................................................

Reading 5

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Reading 5

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Reading 5

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Culture of Chimpanzees

Humankind's nearest relative is even doser than we thought: chimpanzees

You might also like