Understanding Animal Culture | Lucy Aplin | Explorers Festival London 2019

Summary

In this talk, the speaker explores the concept of animal culture, exemplified by the spread of behaviors like washing sweet potatoes by macaques and milk bottle opening by tits. Highlighting research on chimpanzees, she discusses cultural variants like hand clasping and tool use, emphasizing the importance of social learning. The speaker's own study on great tits demonstrates how innovations can spread through social networks, leading to population-level behavioral changes. She advocates for the conservation of animal culture, noting its significance for behavioral flexibility and adaptation, and its influence on human-animal interactions in urban environments.

Takeaways

• 🔬 The concept of 'Protoculture' was introduced after observing a young Japanese macaque washing sweet potatoes in the sea, a behavior that spread within its society.
• 🌐 In the 1990s, researchers noticed variations in chimpanzee behaviors across different sites in Africa, which couldn't be explained by ecological or genetic factors alone.
• 🐵 Chimpanzees are not the only animals exhibiting cultural behaviors; similar patterns have been observed in New Caledonian crows, dolphins, killer whales, and birds.
• 🧬 The idea of animal culture is broadly defined as behaviors that are socially learned, shared within a group, differ between communities, and persist over time.
• 🕊️ A historical example of animal culture is the milk bottle opening behavior observed in tits in the UK, which spread geographically and showed accumulative uptake over generations.
• 📊 The speaker's research involved creating a social network of great tits to study the spread of behaviors like milk bottle opening, demonstrating social learning and cultural transmission.
• 🌿 The study of animal culture is significant for conservation efforts, as it highlights the importance of preserving not just animal populations but also the cultural knowledge they hold.
• 🦅 In some cases, lost cultural behaviors, like migration routes in bighorn sheep, can be reintroduced through training, showing the potential for cultural inheritance in conservation.
• 🏙️ Animal behavior in urban environments is dynamic and responsive to human-induced selective pressures, indicating a two-way interaction between animals and their modified habitats.
• 🌱 The study of animal culture fosters empathy and a deeper understanding of animals as individuals with rich social and cultural lives, beyond mere numbers.

Q & A

What significant behavior was observed in Japanese macaques in 1954?

In 1954, a young Japanese macaque was observed taking sweet potatoes to the sea to wash them, a behavior that spread among other macaques and is still seen today.

What term was used to describe the macaques' behavior of washing sweet potatoes?

The researchers labeled this behavior as 'Protoculture'.

How did chimpanzee behavior vary across different research sites in Africa during the 1990s?

Researchers noticed that behaviors such as hand clasping grooming and tool use varied between sites, with some sites showing these behaviors and others not, indicating cultural differences.

What is meant by 'animal culture' in the context of the script?

Animal culture refers to behaviors that are socially learned, shared by members of a group, differ between communities, and persist over time, potentially across generations.

What is an example of animal culture observed in birds?

An example of animal culture in birds is the 'song dialects' where birds from different populations often sing different tunes.

How did the milk bottle opening behavior in tits spread geographically and across generations?

The behavior of opening milk bottles was observed to have two independent origins and spread both geographically and through generations over twenty years.

What method did the researcher use to study the social ecology of great tits?

The researcher used microchips to track birds and built a social network to study their interactions and the spread of behaviors like milk bottle opening.

How did the researcher demonstrate social learning in great tits?

The researcher trained some birds to solve a sliding door task and observed that the majority of the birds in their social community used the same technique, indicating they learned by copying each other.

What is the significance of the study on animal culture for conservation efforts?

The study highlights the importance of conserving not just animal numbers but also the cultural knowledge within populations, which is crucial for behavioral flexibility and adaptation.

How can cultural inheritance in animals be influenced by human activities?

Cultural inheritance can be influenced by providing new opportunities and challenges, as seen in urban environments where animals adapt to human-modified environments, shaping and being shaped by human behavior.

What is the role of animal culture in shaping our perception of animals?

Understanding animal culture can increase empathy for animals, viewing them as individuals with rich social and cultural lives, rather than just numbers.