Do Chimps Have Culture

289 Words2 Pages
Our close relatives, in the primate order are chimpanzees and bonobos. In my opinion, it is fair to say that these groups of chimpanzees and bonobos have developed and adapted to culture. As time has passed, the animals have followed traditions and ways taught to them by their parents or community, just as us humans. The social and behavioral patterns of these animals are learned behaviors and some natural, again, just like humans. Culture, according to Wikipedia is defined as “the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively.” In this case, we are refering to the chimpanzees as well. These groups of animals interact among each other incredibly well for the most part. They are getting more complex in their thinking, also. As stated in the article the brain of the chimps are expanding and in some areas surpassing some human abilities. The chimps socially are divided into groups with subgroups. Behaviors and culture will also vary according to the different communities of the chimps, not by much though. But since primates are social animals they will adapt to their surroundings and behave accordingly. Stated in the article, the chimps teach each other by example, and after a certain age its either you get it or you don’t. This again, is a something that applies us humans as well. It seems culture is prevalent in chimps and bonobos from the many studies of Primatologists. There seems to be more of a social pattern present than that of behaviors embedded in DNA. The learned behaviors and the passing of time has made these primates more adaptable to cultures that we now know they do indeed
Open Document