Wild Cultures: A Comparison Between Chimpanzee and Human CulturesHow do chimpanzees say, 'I want to have sex with you?' By clipping a leaf or knocking on a tree trunk? How do they eat live aggressive ants? By using a short stick with one hand or long stick with both? Ivorian and Tanzanian chimpanzees answer these questions differently, as would humans from France and China if asked how they eat rice. Christophe Boesch takes readers into the lives of chimpanzees from different African regions, highlighting the debate about culture. His ethnography reveals how simple techniques have evolved into complex ones, how teaching styles differ, how material culture widens access to new food sources and how youngsters learn culture. This journey reveals many parallels between humans and chimpanzees and points to striking differences. Written in a vivid and accessible style, Wild Cultures places the reader in social and ecological contexts that shed light on our twin cultures. |
Contents
And the culture war started | 3 |
Studying culture in the wild | 9 |
From human culture to wild culture | 22 |
about material culture | 47 |
about social culture | 81 |
from pupils to teachers | 128 |
Other editions - View all
Wild Cultures: A Comparison between Chimpanzee and Human Cultures Christophe Boesch Limited preview - 2012 |
Wild Cultures: A Comparison between Chimpanzee and Human Cultures Christophe Boesch No preview available - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
adult male Africa Animal Cognition animal species ants aspects behavior Brutus Caledonian crows captive chimpanzees capuchin monkeys chim chimpan chimpanzee culture chimpanzee populations Clever Hans cognitive abilities compared complex cooperation Côte d’Ivoire Coula Coula nuts crack nuts cultural traits Cumulative cultural evolution dead death domains ecological environment example experiments extract Falstaff females Figure Frans de Waal Frodo Gombe chimpanzees Goualougo grooming ground group members Hadza honey human cultural hunters hunting imitation important individuals infants interactions Jane Goodall Kendo leaf leaf-clip leopard living Loango Mahale chimpanzees material culture meat mother National Park nest Ngogo nut-cracking observed Panda panzees Povinelli prey primates Primatology psychologists red colobus regularly Salomé Sartre seen shared Snoopy social culture social group social learning stick stone hammers symbolic culture Taï chimpanzees Taï forest Taï National Park Tanzania teaching technique termite tions Tomasello tree understanding Whiten wild chimpanzees youngsters zees