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Is culture a golden barrier between human and chimpanzee?
Author(s) -
Boesch Christophe
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
evolutionary anthropology: issues, news, and reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1520-6505
pISSN - 1060-1538
DOI - 10.1002/evan.10106
Subject(s) - repertoire , meaning (existential) , cultural learning , similarity (geometry) , phenomenon , cognition , human culture , psychology , social learning , epistemology , cognitive psychology , evolutionary biology , sociology , social psychology , biology , anthropology , philosophy , neuroscience , art , literature , pedagogy , artificial intelligence , computer science , image (mathematics)
Abstract Culture pervades much of human existence. Its significance to human social interaction and cognitive development has convinced some researchers that the phenomenon and its underlying mechanisms represent a defining criterion for humankind. However, care should be taken not to make hasty conclusions in light of the growing number of observations on the cultural abilities of different species, ranging from chimpanzees and orangutans to whales and dolphins. The present review concentrates on wild chimpanzees and shows that they all possess an extensive cultural repertoire. In the light of what we know from humans, I evaluate the importance of social learning leading to acquisition of cultural traits, as well as of collective meaning of communicative traits. Taking into account cross‐cultural variations in humans, I argue that the cultural abilities we observe in wild chimpanzees present a broad level of similarity between the two species.