Think About:

What is “culture”?

How do you know it when you see it?

What makes humans human?

Implies manipulating nature

Thought, experimentation, innovation

TOOLS

What makes humans human?

Representing the world

Higher purpose

Not evolutionary

ART

What makes humans human?

Shows conceptions of place in the universe

Beliefs passed on from one generation to next

RELIGION

So…Is Culture a Human Thing?

Animal Culture

Evidence of Culture Among Non-Humans

Japanese Macaque

a.k.a.: Snow Monkeys

Koshima, 1953

Japanese researchers leave sweet potatoes on a beach for a troop of macaques

The potatoes are covered with sand and the monkeys have to rub them to get the sand off

One female, named Imo, begins to wash the potato in water

Soon others start washing potatoes

After four years, 18% of adults and 78% of juveniles are washing potatoes

Washing in salt water makes them tastier

Innovation in 1956

Imo discovers that dropping wheat grains in water will separate them from sand

Others adopt the innovation

Nagano, 1963

Researchers feed wild macaques soybeans

Some fall into a hot spring

Female named Mukubili goes in the water after them

She likes the warmth and stays

Others follow suit…

Started with young

Then mothers

Then rest of troop

Soon they were enjoying the “hot tub” throughout the winter

Hot Tub Etiquette

Grooming is welcome

Don’t stay too long

No splashing!

Innovation…

Young monkeys discover something they can do with snow…

SNOWBALLS!

Snowball Fights?

No

Monkey youth throw them in hot spring

Roll them as they melt

LessonsIs this culture?

InnovationExperimentation and discovery

AdoptionOther members of tribe

TransmissionAcross generations

Other evidence

Small birds pecking through bottle caps on cream in Britain

Local “dialects” of bird song

Tool making in chimps and crows

Whales and dolphins, language and customs

What is culture?

The sum total of knowledge, attitudes, and habitual behavior patterns shared and transmitted by members of a society.

Cultural TraitsA single element of a normal practice of a culture

Material CultureTools, clothing, buildings

Artifacts

Non-material CultureBeliefs, practices, values

Mentifacts