Conformity to cultural norms of tool use in chimpanzees

Andrew Whiten (), Victoria Horner and Frans B. M. de Waal
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Andrew Whiten: University of St Andrews
Victoria Horner: University of St Andrews
Frans B. M. de Waal: Emory University

Nature, 2005, vol. 437, issue 7059, 737-740

Abstract: In with the in-crowd Humans are not alone in wanting to fit in: chimpanzees also conform to the cultural norm. It is well known that chimpanzees sustain different local traditions of tool-use, but a new study shows that they conform to the group norms in an unexpectedly human-like way. By training one individual in each of two groups to use a tool to extract hidden food in different ways, various technologies were ‘seeded’ into social groups. These developed into stable subcultures during the two-month study. Some individuals stumbled on the alternative method, yet converged on the local group norm. Human conformity to local custom may have a much more ancient evolutionary ancestry than was assumed.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04047

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