title: The spread of a novel behavior in wild chimpanzees: New insights into the ape cultural mind.
abstract: For years, the animal culture debate has been dominated by the puzzling absence of direct evidence for social transmission of behavioral innovations in the flagship species of animal culture, the common chimpanzee. Although social learning of novel behaviors has been documented in captivity, critics argue that these findings lack ecological validity and therefore may not be relevant for understanding the evolution of culture. For the wild, it is possible that group-specific behavioral differences emerge because group members respond individually to unspecified environmental differences, rather than learning from each other. In a recent paper, we used social network analyses in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) to provide direct evidence for social transmission of a behavioral innovation, moss-sponging, to extract water from a tree hole. Here, we discuss the implications of our findings and how our new methodological approach could help future studies of social learning and culture in wild apes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Cognition; Institute of Biology; University of Neuchâtel ; Neuchâtel, Switzerland ; Budongo Conservation Field Station ; Masindi, Uganda.
authors.forename: Thibaud
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie; Chimie et Géographie; Université du Québec à Rimouski ; Rimouski, Canada ; Québec Center for Biodiversity Sciences ; Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Timothée
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Poisot
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Cognition; Institute of Biology; University of Neuchâtel ; Neuchâtel, Switzerland ; Budongo Conservation Field Station ; Masindi, Uganda ; School of Psychology and Neuroscience; University of St Andrews ; Fife, UK.
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zuberbühler
authors.affiliation: Animal and Environment Research Group; Anglia Ruskin University ; Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hoppitt
authors.affiliation: Budongo Conservation Field Station ; Masindi, Uganda ; School of Psychology and Neuroscience; University of St Andrews ; Fife, UK.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hobaiter
keywords: Pan troglodytes; chimpanzee culture; evolution of culture; mental representations; social network; tool use