Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 277, Issue 1681, Pages 651-659Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1615
Keywords
imitation; cultural evolution; animal culture
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Funding
- Center for the Study of Mind in Nature of the University
- Institut Jean Nicod (ENS-EHESS-CNRS) in Paris
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For acquired behaviour to count as cultural, two conditions must be met: it must propagate in a social group, and it must remain stable across generations in the process of propagation. It is commonly assumed that imitation is the mechanism that explains both the spread of animal culture and its stability. We review the literature on transmission chain studies in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and other animals, and we use a formal model to argue that imitation, which may well play a major role in the propagation of animal culture, cannot be considered faithful enough to explain its stability. We consider the contribution that other psychological and ecological factors might make to the stability of animal culture observed in the wild.
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