Why do chimpanzees have diverse behavioral repertoires yet lack more complex cultures? Invention and social information use in a cumulative task

Vale, Gillian L; McGuigan, Nicola; Burdett, Emily; Lambeth, Susan P; Lucas, Amanda; Rawlings, Bruce; Schapiro, Steven J; Watson, Stuart K; Whiten, Andrew

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.11.003

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Vale, G. L., McGuigan, N., Burdett, E., Lambeth, S. P., Lucas, A., Rawlings, B., Schapiro, S. J., Watson, S. K., & Whiten, A. (2021). Why do chimpanzees have diverse behavioral repertoires yet lack more complex cultures? Invention and social information use in a cumulative task. Evolution and Human Behavior, 42(3), 247–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.11.003

Abstract

Humans are distinctive in their dependence upon products of culture for survival, products that have evolved cumulatively over generations such that many cannot now be created by a single individual. Why the cultural capacity of humans appears unrivalled in the animal kingdom is a topic of ongoing debate. Here we explore whether innovation and/or social learning propensities may constrain the ability of one of our closest living relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), to master an extractive foraging and tool-use task designed to af