Contributed by: filbert Thursday, June 07 2007 @ 04:34 PM CST
Ah, another simian story from the friendly folks at ScienceDaily[*1] :
“We have robust evidence that in chimpanzees there is a considerable capacity for cultural spread of innovations,” said Dr. Andrew Whiten of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. “This strengthens the interpretation of cases of behavioral diversity in the wild as socially transmitted traditions. Moreover, we have now shown that chimpanzees can sustain cultures that are made up of several traditions. This again is consistent with what is seen in the wild, where chimpanzees are thought to show up to 20 traditions that define their unique local culture.”