JC 3 Flashcards
What is culture?
Group-typical behaviour patterns, shared by members of animal communities, that are to some degree reliant on socially learnt information
Describe the use of leaf-sponging across chimps
All known chimp communities use leaf sponges
What are some variations in how leaf sponges are used
At some sites, chimps use leaf sponges to drink from streams.
In others, they only use them for out of reach water
What are the two possibilities for lead sponging?
Each individual independently invented the behavior
One individual invented the behavior, whoever observed them learned it from them in a cycle
What was the prediction for explanation 1?
behavior should pop up in random places in the network
What was the prediction for explanation 2?
behavior should be more likely to appear in an individual that observed another doing the behavior, than elsewhere in the network
How did the behavior spread in this paper
Spread from NB to KW was not through direct observation of NB by KW, but by KW picking up NB’s discarded moss sponge
What does this tell us about social learning?
can occur through encountering the products of others’ activities
What was the follow up study?
What did they test in the moss sponge study
Absorbency of moss and lead sponges
What was the natural context of the follow up
Moss: 13.1ml per dip
Leaf: 8.4ml per dip
What was the experimental context of the follow up
Moss: 26.3ml per dip
Leaf: 9.5ml per dip
What was the result of the follow up
Yes, moss sponges are more efficient
What was the key breakthrough of this study
direct demonstration that skills, e.g. tool use, are socially learnt in wild chimpanzees
What argument does the results of this study strengthen
regional variation in wild chimpanzee behavior represents cultural variation
