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Culture is a very difficult thing to describe, especially outside humans. The question of whether animals other than human have a culture is not only a tricky question but one that is bound to be answered in reference to human culture. That is, we can define culture among animals only in manner which we define culture among men.
This is so because animals are seen to lack the basic elements of holistic cognitive, emotive, and linguistic aspect that normally compose culture. As such, animal behavior, even collective ones, is often shrugged merely as instinct or non-cognitive response.
There have been many studies that seem to prove otherwise, concluding that animals may in fact display elements of culture. One of the most recent ones claim that "chimp handshakes, which are seen only among some of the primates, seem to differ from group to group in ways that aren't dependent on genetics or environment. That leaves cultural differences between groups as a possible explanation for why and how the hand-holding occurs." It also adds that "the fact that the behavior is long-lasting and appears to be passed down through generations suggests that the handshakes may be a rudimentary form of culture, van Leeuwen said. Other studies have found that different groups of chimps use tools differently, suggesting similar cultural differences, but this is the first example of different social interactions between groups, he said."
Animal intelligence has long been known and established, but the question of whether animals possess culture, i.e. learned and shared knowledge and behavior that are not merely biological and genetic.
Do animals have culture?
EDIT: Definitions of culture
http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/choudhury/culture.html
Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.
http://www.carla.umn.edu/culture/definitions.html
culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization. These shared patterns identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/culture
a : the integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thought, speech, action, and artifacts and depends upon the human capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations
b : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group
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I think they do. Animals have a sense of territory and ownership, so I also think they have the capacity to have certain mannerisms and customs which should differ from one territory/family of same-species animals to another.
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no
User was warned for this post
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Orca packs from different areas of the world have different cultures. Some live in smaller groups of less than 10, while others live in over 100. From what I remember they have different languages and diets as well. I'm not sure if that constitutes as culture, but it seems to start on a basic level.
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On August 30 2012 16:49 wcLLg wrote:
no
Care to elaborate?
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Some do... Diffrent "tribes" of apes behave diffrently or use other ways to get certain food to clean it.
What is this if not culture?
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On August 30 2012 16:40 Twinkle Toes wrote:
Animal intelligence has long been known and established, but the question of whether animals possess culture, i.e. learned and shared knowledge and behavior that are not merely biological and genetic.
Do animals have culture?
Culture is learned behaviour, knowledge and preferences common to a group based on social environment, not genetics. It is obvious that some animals have that: cats and dogs especially.
Not sure what there is to discuss ... seems fairly obvious.
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Ant farms have culture. If an ant farm ages the behavior changes, yet the ants keep being replaced by new generations.
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I think that a lot of what we have earlier attributed to genetics among the fauna of the world actually comes from environment and culture. As much as instincts and evolution play a certain role in how animals act and treat each other, much of what makes a certain animal what it is is what the individuals have learned from older members of the same species. Natural selection mostly affects the physiological aspect of evolution, and the psychological development happens due to alterations in learned behavior.
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I think it mostly depends how liberal of a definition of culture you're using.
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I read a rather interesting paper on an ethologist studying wolves while doing my honours research in play. It left me with a strong impression that the wolfpack studied did in fact have what would constitute a culture, though of course nothing like as advanced as human cultures.
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no use discusing it if you dont define the word.
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Chimpanzees are extremely different in their own groups. Some prefer to gather more, and some hunt constantly. It's mostly determined by their past leaders and their skills. They also have a completely legitimate language system, hierarchy, knowledge of medicine, and mating rights.
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On August 30 2012 17:22 LeSioN wrote:
no use discusing it if you dont define the word.
yeah this exactly. every one of these type of threads throws out some controversial argument but when there's a disagreement on definitions it's useless to even have the discussion. a more useful discussion would be "what is culture" and then you can move forwards and determine if animal behavior fits that description.
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Sorry if i was short. The reason why animals don't have culture is because they act on a purely instinctual level. All cats behave similarly. They stalk prey, play with string, sleep a lot, etc. This doesn't imply a cats culture is made up of these things but that these things are just a product of the CAT's prior evolution.
Just my .02
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On August 31 2012 08:12 wcLLg wrote:
Sorry if i was short. The reason why animals don't have culture is because they act on a purely instinctual level. All cats behave similarly. They stalk prey, play with string, sleep a lot, etc. This doesn't imply a cats culture is made up of these things but that these things are just a product of the CAT's prior evolution.
Just my .02
What about other animals, like the one exampled in the op, chimps? or whales, dolphins. even pigs.
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Primates are so close to human beings I think its pretty evident they probably have a culture. The rest? I don't think so.
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Well whales and dolphins communicate in order to full their instinctual obligations. Chimps are the only creatures that actually develop communities and they carry very few lessons/elements from generation to generation.
Humans change their habits every decade or so via technology and general boredom. Animals.....well they don't change.
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Some primates definitely have culture. I remember one of my professors talking about it...something about how different tribes of Bonobos in the same area would adopt different habits and techniques and pass them onto immigrants.
I'm pretty sure elephants have culture. They have a "teen delinquincy" thing if the population of adults is unstable. They also have fascinating death rituals and practices...it's remarkable.
Of course, it all depends on what you define "culture" to be.
On August 31 2012 08:27 Thenerf wrote:
Well whales and dolphins communicate in order to full their instinctual obligations.
A statement this vague can be said about any animal on earth, including humans.
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They do, but it is extremely basic, and nowhere near even "simple" human cultural groups. Even small nomadic groups like the Raute or Bedouins have very complex cultures and practices. That said, most of animals' culture derives from instinct. They are not reasoning creatures like we are, and when they do "reason", it seems to be almost entirely the result of repetition and tireless practice and reactions to experiences, whether it is in nature or domestication.
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EPT
