Just as humans living in different communities have their own culture, each group of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ) could have different customs, according to a study published in the journal Biology Letters .
The researchers, from the Max Planck Institute (Germany), studied the nut-cracking technique of three different populations of chimpanzees in the Tai National Park (Ivory Coast). The results revealed that each group had its own method, being able to vary both the material of the tool – wood or stone-, as well as its size. "Chimpanzees and humans share the fact that each community has its own culture," Lydia Luncz, author of the study, told SINC.
The choice of populations that share habitat and are located in close proximity is important to ensure that these differences are due to learned behavior and not to genetic variations. "There are previous studies on cultural differences in these primates, but in all of them, the populations analyzed were separated by great distances," the authors explained.
In addition, this type of study also offers us clues about the way in which different human cultures originated and evolved.
