Human impacts erode behavioral diversity in chimpanzees
Thursday, March 7, 2019 - 14:02
in Biology & Nature
Compared to other animals, chimpanzees show tremendous variation across groups in their behavior—from the types of tools they use in their feeding behavior to the specific gestures they use in communication. Research in captivity suggests that chimpanzees acquire information socially, learning to do things in a certain way based on how it is done by other members of their group. Thus, much of the variation in the behavior among wild chimpanzee groups may be akin to "cultural" variation in humans.