Chimpanzees can learn skills from their peers that are so complex they could not have developed on their own, an ability previously thought to be unique to the human species, according to a study published March 6, 2024.
Knowledge transfer
The evolution of human culture is based in part on the accumulation of innovations and their transmission through social learning, which allows performance to improve from generation to generation. And arrive at techniques so sophisticated that an individual could not discover on their own.
Several experiments have already demonstrated the ability of social learning in animals. Thanks to this, some of their behaviors can be perfected over time, suggesting that they have a form of “cumulative culture”: nut-cracking in chimpanzees, trajectory modification in pigeons… However, scientists do not rule out that these abilities can also arise spontaneously through the existence of a “latent zone solution” in the brain.
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Gain skills you can’t have alone
In a study published in Natural human behavior, led by Edwin van Leewen of Utrecht University (Netherlands), chimpanzees from the Chimfunshi Sanctuary in Zambia had a peanut dispenser in an enclosure requiring ball-and-socket manipulation in three phases. A complex system inspired by the natural behavior of chimpanzees arming themselves with tools – sticks – to collect termites.
For three months, 66 individuals explored the device without anyone understanding how it worked, a sign that it could not be done alone. The researchers then successfully trained two chimpanzees to spread their new skills within their groups.
After two months of observation, 14 naive primates managed the device. And the more they looked at their demonstrators, the faster they were able to solve the problem, the authors specify. They conclude that “chimpanzees use social learning to acquire skills beyond“basic tasks involving the latent solution zone.