Animal culture can be defined as the ability of non-human animals to learn and transmit behaviors through processes of social or cultural learning. Culture is increasingly seen as a process, involving the social transmittance of behavior among peers and between generations. It can involve the transmission of novel behaviors or regional variations that are independent of genetic or ecological factors.
The existence of culture in non-humans has been a contentious subject, sometimes forcing researchers to rethink "what it is to be human". The notion of culture in other animals dates back to Aristotle in classical antiquity, and more recently to Charles Darwin, but the association of other animals' actions with the actual word 'culture' originated with Japanese primatologists' discoveries of socially-transmitted food behaviours in the 1940s. Evidence for animal culture is often based on studies of feeding behaviors, vocalizations, predator avoidance, mate selection, and migratory routes.
An important area of study for animal culture is vocal learning, the ability to make new sounds through imitation. Most species cannot learn to imitate sounds. Some can learn how to use innate vocalizations in new ways. Only a few species can learn new calls. The transmission of vocal repertoires, including some types of bird vocalization, can be viewed as social processes involving cultural transmission. Some evidence suggests that the ability to engage in vocal learning depends on the development of specialized brain circuitry, detected in humans, dolphins, bats and some birds. The lack of common ancestors suggests that the basis for vocal learning has evolved independently through evolutionary convergence.
Animal culture can be an important consideration in conservation management. As of 2020, culture and sociality were included in the aspects of the management framework of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).
Background Culture can be defined as "all group-typical behavior patterns, shared by members of animal communities, that are to some degree reliant on socially learned and transmitted information".
Organizational culture One definition of culture, particularly in relation to the organizational aspect is the utilization of "involvement, consistency, adaptation, and mission." Cultural traits that are indicators of a successful form of organization are more likely to be assimilated into our everyday lives. Organizations that utilize the four aforementioned aspects of culture are the ones that are the most successful. Therefore, cultures that are better able to involve their citizens towards a common goal have a much higher rate of effectiveness than those who do not have a shared goal. A further definition of culture is, "[s]ocially transmitted behavior patterns that serve to relate human communities to their ecological settings." This definition connects cultural behavior to the environment. Since culture is a form of adaptation to one's environment, it is mirrored in many aspects of our current and past societies.
Cultural sociology Other researchers are currently exploring the idea that there is a connection between cultural sociology and psychology. Certain individuals are especially concerned with the analysis of studies connecting "identity, collective memory, social classification, logics of action, and framing." Views of what exactly culture is have been changing due to the convergence of sociological and psychological thought on the subject by the 1990s. Culture is specific to region and not just one umbrella definition or concept can truly give us the essence of what culture is. Also referenced is the importance of symbols and rituals as cognitive building blocks for a psychological concept of shared culture.
Memes and cultural transmission Richard Dawkins argues for the existence of a "unit of cultural transmission" called a meme. This concept of memes has become much more accepted as more extensive research has been done into cultural behaviors. Much as one can inherit genes from each parent, it is suggested that individuals acquire memes through imitating what they observe around them. The more relevant actions (actions that increase ones probability of survival), such as architecture and craftwork are more likely to become prevalent, enabling a culture to form. The idea of memes as following a form of Natural Selection was first presented by Daniel Dennett. It has also been argued by Dennett that memes are responsible for the entirety of human consciousness. He claims that everything that constitutes humanity, such as language and music is a result of memes.
Evolutionary culture A closely related concept to memes is the idea of evolutionary culture. The concept of evolutionary culture gained greater acceptance due to the re-evaluation of the term by anthropologists. The broadening scope of evolution from simple genes to more abstract concepts, such as designs and behaviors makes the idea of evolutionary culture more plausible. Evolutionary culture theory is defined as "a theory of cultural phylogeny." The idea that all human culture evolved from one main culture, citing the interconnectedness of languages, has also been presented. There is, however, also the possibility for disparate ancestral cultures, in that the cultures observed today may potentially have stemmed from more than one original culture.
Culture in animals According to the Webster's dictionary definition of culture, learning and transmission are the two main components of culture, specifically referencing tool making and the ability to acquire behaviors that will enhance one's quality of life. Using this definition it is possible to conclude that other animals are just as likely to adapt to cultural behaviors as humans. One of the first signs of culture in early humans was the utilization of tools. Chimpanzees have been observed using tools such as rocks and sticks to obtain better access to food. There are other learned activities that have been exhibited by other animals as well. Some examples of these activities that have been shown by varied animals are opening oysters, swimming, washing of food, and unsealing tin lids. This acquisition and sharing of behaviors correlates directly to the existence of memes. It especially reinforces the natural selection component, seeing as these actions employed by other animals are all mechanisms for making their lives easier, and therefore longer.
History of animal culture theory Though the idea of 'culture' in other animals has only been around for just over half of a century, scientists have been noting social behaviors of other animals for centuries. Aristotle was the first to provide evidence of social learning in the songs of birds. Charles Darwin first attempted to find the existence of imitation in other animals when attempting to prove his theory that the human mind had evolved from that of lower beings. Darwin was also the first to suggest what became known as social learning in attempting to explain the transmission of an adaptive pattern of behavior through a population of honey bees.
Whiten's Culture in Chimpanzees Andrew Whiten, professor of Evolutionary and Developmental Psychology at the University of St. Andrews, contributed to the greater understanding of cultural transmission with his work on chimpanzees. In Cultural Traditions in Chimpanzees, Whiten created a compilation of results from seven long-term studies totaling 151 years of observation analyzing behavioral patterns in different communities of chimpanzees in Africa (read more about it below). The study expanded the notion that cultural behavior lies beyond linguistic mediation, and can be interpreted to include distinctive socially learned behavior such as stone-handling and sweet potato washing in Japanese macaques. The implications of their findings indicate that chimpanzee behavioral patterns mimic the distinct behavioral variants seen in different human populations in which cultural transmission has generally always been an accepted concept.
Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman models Population geneticists Cavalli-Sforza & Feldman have also been frontrunners in the field of cultural transmission, describing behavioral "traits" as characteristics pertaining to a culture that are recognizable within that culture. Using a quantifiable approach, Cavalli-Sforza & Feldman were able to produce mathematical models for three forms of cultural transmission, each of which have distinct effects on socialization: vertical, horizontal, and oblique. Vertical transmission occurs from parents to offspring and is a function which shows that the probability that parents of specific types give rise to an offspring of their own or of another type. Vertical transmission, in this sense, is similar to genetic transmission in biological evolution as mathematical models for gene transmission account for variation. Vertical transmission also contributes strongly to the buildup of between-population variation. Horizontal transmission, or non-vertical transmission is cultural transmission that occurs among individuals from the same generation. Oblique transmission occurs to offspring from the generation to which their parents belong that is, from adults other than the offspring's parents, such as teachers.
Mechanisms of cultural transmission in animals Cultural transmission, also known as cultural learning, is the process and method of passing on socially learned information. Within a species, cultural transmission is greatly influenced by how adults socialize with each other and with their young. Differences in cultural transmission across species have been thought to be largely affected by external factors, such as the physical environment, that may lead an individual to interpret a traditional concept in a novel way. The environmental stimuli that contribute to this variance can include climate, migration patterns, conflict, suitability for survival, and endemic pathogens. Cultural transmission can also vary according to different social learning strategies employed at the species and or individual level. Cultural transmission is hypothesized to be a critical process for maintaining behavioral characteristics in both humans and nonhuman animals over time, and its existence relies on innovation, imitation, and communication to create and propagate various aspects of animal behavior seen today.
Not all socially influenced behaviours necessarily depend on copying their behavioural form. The “zone of latent solutions” hypothesis proposes that many behaviours can be individually reinvented, while social learning influences their frequency or distribution without transmitting the behavioural form itself.
Culture, when defined as the transmission of behaviors from one generation to the next, can be transmitted among animals through various methods.Matsuzawa, Tetsurō, Masaki Tomonaga, and M. Tanaka. Cognitive Development in Chimpanzees. Tokyo: Springer, 2006. The most common of these methods include imitation, teaching, and language. Imitation has been found to be one of the most prevalent modes of cultural transmission in non-human animals, while teaching and language are much less widespread, with the possible exceptions of primates and cetaceans. Some research has suggested that teaching, as opposed to imitation, may be a characteristic of certain animals who have more advanced cultural capacities.