
The second inheritance system of chimpanzees and humans
- Select a language for the TTS:
- UK English Female
- UK English Male
- US English Female
- US English Male
- Australian Female
- Australian Male
- Language selected: (auto detect) - EN
Play all audios:
ABSTRACT Half a century of dedicated field research has brought us from ignorance of our closest relatives to the discovery that chimpanzee communities resemble human cultures in possessing
suites of local traditions that uniquely identify them. The collaborative effort required to establish this picture parallels the one set up to sequence the chimpanzee genome, and has
revealed a complex social inheritance system that complements the genetic picture we are now developing. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription
content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Subscribe to this journal Receive 51 print issues and online access $199.00 per year only $3.90 per issue
Learn more Buy this article * Purchase on SpringerLink * Instant access to full article PDF Buy now Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL
ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS ANCIENT GENOMES PROVIDE INSIGHTS INTO
FAMILY STRUCTURE AND THE HEREDITY OF SOCIAL STATUS IN THE EARLY BRONZE AGE OF SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE Article Open access 12 May 2021 EVIDENCE OF THE INTERPLAY OF GENETICS AND CULTURE IN
ETHIOPIA Article Open access 11 June 2021 THE GENETIC LEGACY OF LEGENDARY AND HISTORICAL SIBERIAN CHIEFTAINS Article Open access 16 October 2020 REFERENCES * Goodall, J. Tool-using and aimed
throwing in a community of free-living chimpanzees. _Nature_ 201, 1264–1266 (1964) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Goodall, J. _The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior_ (Harvard
Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1986) Google Scholar * Wrangham, R. W., McGrew, W. C., de Waal, F. B. M. & Heltne, P. (eds) _Chimpanzee Cultures_ (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1994) *
Nishida, T., Kano, T., Goodall, J., McGrew, W. C. & Nakamura, M. Ethogram and ethnography of Mahale chimpanzees. _Anthropol. Sci._ 107, 141–188 (1999) Article Google Scholar *
Suddendorf, T. & Whiten, A. Mental evolution and development: Evidence for secondary representation in children, great apes and other animals. _Psychol. Bull._ 127, 629–650 (2001)
Article CAS Google Scholar * Boesch, C. & Hohman, G. & Marchant, L. F. (eds) _Behavioural Diversity in Chimpanzees and Bonobos_ (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2002) *
Matsuzawa, T. (ed.) _Chimpanzees of Bossou and Nimba 1976–2001_ (Primate Research Institute, Kyoto Univ., Kyoto, 2002) * McGrew, W. C. _The Cultured Chimpanzee: Reflections on Cultural
Primatology_ (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2004) Book Google Scholar * Reynolds, V. _The Chimpanzees of the Budongo Forest: Ecology, Behaviour and Conservation_ (Oxford Univ. Press,
Oxford, 2005) Book Google Scholar * The Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium. Initial sequence of the chimpanzee genome and comparison with the human genome. _Nature_
doi:10.1038/nature04072 (this issue) * Caldecott, J. & Miles, L. (eds) _The World Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation_ (UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Univ. California
Press, Berkeley, 2005) * Whiten, A. et al. Cultures in chimpanzees. _Nature_ 399, 682–685 (1999) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Whiten, A. et al. Charting cultural variation in
chimpanzees. _Behaviour_ 138, 1489–1525 (2001) Google Scholar * van Schaik, C. P. et al. Orangutan cultures and the evolution of material culture. _Science_ 299, 102–105 (2003) Article ADS
CAS Google Scholar * Whiten, A., Horner, V. & Marshall-Pescini, S. Cultural panthropology. _Evol. Anthropol._ 12, 92–105 (2003) Article Google Scholar * Lefebvre, L. in _The
Evolution of Cognition_ (eds Heyes, C. & Huber, L.) 311–328 (MIT Press, Cambridge, 2000) Google Scholar * Fragaszy, D. M. & Perry, S. (eds) _The Biology of Traditions: Models and
Evidence_ (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2003) * McGrew, W. C. _Chimpanzee Material Culture: Implications for Human Evolution_ (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1992) Book Google
Scholar * Rendell, L. & Whitehead, H. Cultures in whales and dolphins. _Behav. Brain Sci._ 24, 309–382 (2001) Article CAS Google Scholar * Perry, S., et al. in _The Biology of
Traditions: Models and Evidence_ (eds Fragaszy, D. M. & Perry, S.) 391–425 (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2003) Book Google Scholar * Boesch, C. Is culture a golden barrier between
humans and chimpanzees? _Evol. Anthropol._ 12, 82–91 (2003) Article Google Scholar * Nishida, T., Mitani, J. & Watts, D. Variable grooming behaviours in wild chimpanzees. _Folia
Primatol. (Basel)_ 75, 31–36 (2004) Article Google Scholar * Sanz, C., Morgan, D. & Glick, S. New insights into chimpanzees, tools and termites from the Congo Basin. _Am. Nat._ 164,
567–581 (2004) Article Google Scholar * Richerson, P. J. & Boyd, R. _Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution_ (Chicago Univ. Press, Chicago, 2005) Google Scholar *
Tomasello, M. _The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition_ (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1999) Google Scholar * Matsuzawa, T. et al. in _Primate Origins of Human Cognition and Behavior_
(ed. Matsuzawa, T.) 557–574 (Springer, Berlin, 2001) Book Google Scholar * Biro, D. et al. Cultural innovation and transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees: evidence from field
experiments. _Anim. Cogn._ 6, 213–223 (2004) Article Google Scholar * Tomasello, M., Davis-Dasilva, M., Camak, L. & Bard, K. Observational learning of tool use by young chimpanzees and
enculturated chimpanzees. _Hum. Evol._ 2, 175–183 (1987) Article Google Scholar * Tomasello, M. in _Social Learning in Animals: the Roots of Culture_ (eds Heyes, C. M. & Galef, B. G.)
319–346 (Academic, London, 1996) Book Google Scholar * Nielsen, M., Collier-Baker, E., Davis, J. M. & Suddendorf, T. Imitation recognition in a captive chimpanzee (_Pan troglodytes_).
_Anim. Cogn._ 8, 31–36 (2005) Article Google Scholar * Whiten, A., Horner, V., Litchfield, C. A. & Marshall-Pescini, S. How do apes ape? _Learn. Behav._ 32, 36–52 (2004) Article
Google Scholar * Call, J., Carpenter, M. & Tomasello, M. Copying results and copying actions in the process of social learning: chimpanzees (_Pan troglodytes_) and human children (_Homo
sapiens_). _Anim. Cogn._ 8, 151–163 (2005) Article Google Scholar * Huffman, M. A. & Hirata, S. An experimental study of leaf swallowing in captive chimpanzees: insights into the
origin of a self-medicative behaviour and the role of social learning. _Primates_ 45, 113–118 (2004) Article Google Scholar * Hauser, M. Our chimpanzee mind. _Nature_
doi:10.1038/nature03917 (this issue) * de Waal, F. B. M. A century of getting to know the chimpanzee. _Nature_ doi:10.1038/nature03999 (this issue) * Whiten, A., Horner, V. & de Waal, F.
B. M. Conformity to cultural norms of tool use in chimpanzees. _Nature_ advance online publication, 21 August 2005 (doi:10.1038/nature04047) * Galef, B. G. Jr. The question of animal
culture. _Hum. Nat._ 3, 157–178 (1992) Article CAS Google Scholar * Byrne, R. W. et al. Understanding culture across species. _Trends Cog. Sci._ 8, 341–346 (2005) Article Google Scholar
* McGrew, W. C., Marchant, L. F., Scott, S. E. & Tutin, C. E. G. Intergroup differences in a social custom in wild chimpanzees: the grooming handclasp of the Mahale Mountains. _Curr.
Anthropol._ 42, 148–153 (2001) Google Scholar * Nakamura, M. & Uehara, S. Proximate factors of different types of grooming hand-clasp in Mahale chimpanzees: implications for chimpanzee
social customs. _Curr. Anthropol._ 45, 108–114 (2004) Article Google Scholar * Lonsdorf, E. V., Pusey, A. E. & Eberly, L. Sex differences in learning in chimpanzees. _Nature_ 428,
715–716 (2004) Article ADS CAS Google Scholar * Horner, V. & Whiten, A. Causal knowledge and imitation/emulation switching in chimpanzees (_Pan troglodytes_) and children. _Anim.
Cogn._ 8, 164–181 (2005) Article Google Scholar Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author was supported by a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship. I am grateful to V. Horner, W. C.
McGrew, D. Morgan and M. Nakamura for comments on the manuscript, and to S. Smart and J. Allen for image processing. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Centre for Social Learning
and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9JP, UK Andrew Whiten Authors * Andrew Whiten View author
publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Andrew Whiten. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS Reprints and
permissions information is available at npg.nature.com/reprintsandpermissions. The author declares no competing financial interests. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT
THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Whiten, A. The second inheritance system of chimpanzees and humans. _Nature_ 437, 52–55 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04023 Download citation * Issue
Date: 01 September 2005 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04023 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a
shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative