One of the networks run a piece on the discovery of culture in chimps,so
human beings may not hold the monopoly on cutural diversity.
The researchers cite observations that chimps in different colonies
eat ants in different ways:some lick the ants off the stick,whereas others
use their hands to get the ants off the stick and eat from the hands.
Patterns of grooming also seem to vary from colony to colony.
This may be interesting in the sense that it may lead to some questioning
of some of the findings of ecologists (like Jane Goodall) who observed
only one set of chimps.
When I was at Wichita State,I was privileged to know Nicolas Pronko,
who wrote a book titled Panorama of Psychology, and he had a story
in there that chimps on the beach would learn to wash potato in the water
before eating it.And before you know it all the monkeys were washing
the potatoes. So this might have been unique only to this specific region.
One thought that pops up in my mind is that if one looks for something
or behavior long enough ,one will eventually find it. And could
those field ecologists be subject to that of perseverative bias?
Michael Sylvester,Ph.D
Daytona Beacvh,Florida
