Abstract
As an increasing number of field studies of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have achieved long-term status across Africa, differences in the behavioural repertoires described have become apparent that suggest there is significant cultural variation1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Here we present a systematic synthesis of this information from the seven most long-term studies, which together have accumulated 151 years of chimpanzee observation. This comprehensive analysis reveals patterns of variation that are far more extensive than have previously been documented for any animal species except humans8,9,10,11. We find that 39 different behaviour patterns, including tool usage, grooming and courtship behaviours, are customary or habitual in some communities but are absent in others where ecological explanations have been discounted. Among mammalian and avian species, cultural variation has previously been identified only for single behaviour patterns, such as the local dialects of song-birds12,13. The extensive, multiple variations now documented for chimpanzees are thus without parallel. Moreover, the combined repertoire of these behaviour patterns in each chimpanzee community is itself highly distinctive, a phenomenon characteristic of human cultures14 but previously unrecognised in non-human species.
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Acknowledgements
We thank T. Matsuzawa, G. Yamakoshi, H. Boesch, D. A. Collins, S. Kamenya, H.Matama, H. Mkono, E. Mpongo, J. Salala, M. Huffman, M. Kasagula, R. Nyundo, S. Uehara, K.Arnold, C. Assersohn, K. Fawcett, J. Kakura, Z. Kiwede, G. Muhumuza, N. Newton-Fisher, P.Pebsworth, E. Stokes, J. Tinka, A. Arcadi, C. Katongole, G. Isabiriye-Basuta, F. Mugurusi, M. Muller and M. Wilson for contributions to the database; D. A. Collins, D. I. Perrett and P. J. B. Slater for advice on the manuscript; and S. Smart for the graphics of Fig. 1.
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An extended graphical database (unrefereed) of this material is also available (http://chimp.st-and.ac.uk/cultures). (DOC 25 kb)
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Whiten, A., Goodall, J., McGrew, W. et al. Cultures in chimpanzees. Nature 399, 682–685 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/21415
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/21415
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