Elements expressed in non-human primate culture include the way that different social groups communicate and the ability for chimps to acquire learning to use tools to their benefit. Goodall discovered that chimpanzees from different habits/social groups share a variety of calls relative to other social groups. These varieties of calls could range between high pitch, low pitch, more drawn out calls, or short and simple calls. Goodall thought that maybe these different calls were dependent on their habitats, however, after more observation, she concluded that these calls were not advantageous or special to certain environments, but to their social group they belonged to. Each of these calls unique to their social groups are thought of to be “dialects” (Small 2000). Chimpanzees also make drumming noises to communicate with each other. Another element of culture Goodall notes in her research is that chimpanzees have shown many ways they use tools to benefit them. One of these observations included a chimp using a long stick to capture ants for food. Chimpanzees also find flat rocks to use as the surface to crack open nuts and then take another rock and smash the nut open. When the young chimpanzees tried this technique, they were very unsuccessful. However, after the young chimpanzees would watch their mothers’ several times and much practice, they finally mastered the skill to use these tools effectively (Small 2000). These elements compare with human culture by means of chimpanzees and humans valuing community. In larger social groups, the chimpanzees make stronger relationships with other members of the group alike humans.
Empathy and reciprocity are not unique to human culture. Many researchers have studied chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys to test this idea along with other animals and have come to this conclusion. Chimpanzees have been seen in the wild to have had a conflict between each other and then reconcile after. Frans de Waals asks the question, why (de Waals 2012)? Chimpanzees are very power hungry, and conflict is inevitable, but reconciliation is necessary for chimpanzees because they have the ability to understand that they should not let conflict damage valuable relationships. In another study, they gave one chimpanzee a bucket full of two types of tokens and another chimpanzee in an adjacent cage with no tokens. One of the tokens, the prosocial token, granted both chimpanzees a reward. The other token, the selfish token, granted the chimpanzee who chose the token a reward but leaves the other without a reward. This study showed that many chimpanzees chose prosocial more than not. The chimpanzees realized that if they were still getting a reward with either token why not choose the prosocial token so that they could both benefit from it. When the chimpanzee was pressured by the other chimpanzee for choosing the selfish token, they showed high rates of the chimpanzee picking the prosocial token after. Chimpanzees also show cooperation with their other community members. In the 1930s, researchers created a task for two chimpanzees.
The task required the chimpanzees to pull a box close to their cage with two ropes in order to get the food. Researchers noticed that the chimpanzees worked together even with synchronization! They chose to repeat this study, but only this time one chimpanzee would be hungry. In this study, you see that the hungry chimpanzee would make gestures and signals to notify the other chimpanzee he needed help. After the non-hungry chimpanzee walked away a few times, they eventually pulled it to the side of the cage together and in the end, the hungry chimpanzee stole almost all the food that was available for the non-hungry chimpanzee. This study showed that chimpanzees have a full understanding of needing a partner to help them and the willingness to work even though it is not of much interest to them. This skill sets the chimpanzees show represents the idea of reciprocity.
Lastly, chimpanzees and humans share the idea of empathy. When doctors or psychologist study empathy in children, they usually ask the parent or guardian to act sad. When an adult chimpanzee in the wild screams and/or “cries” after a conflict, it has been documented that other chimpanzees usually juveniles will console the sad chimpanzee. Chimpanzees and humans in these situations, though in different environments, still share the moral principle of empathy (de Waals 2012). All in all, non-human primates and humans do share a lot of cultural ideas yet in different ways. Even though the non-human primates used in these studies belonged to relatively large social groups, these studies still show that most or all non-human primates have the capability to act, live, and survive with these values, cooperation, reciprocity, and empathy.
