チンパンジーの方言(Dialects in chimpanzees)

2025-02-04 マックス・プランク研究所

<関連情報>

• https://www.mpg.de/24112000/0204-evan-dialects-in-chimpanzees-150495-x?c=2249
• https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)01648-8

チンパンジーのシグナル伝統と文化的損失 Signal traditions and cultural loss in chimpanzees

Mathieu Malherbe∙ Honora Néné Kpazahi∙ Inza Kone∙ Liran Samuni∙ Catherine Crockford∙ Roman M. Wittig
Current Biology  Published:February 03, 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.12.008

Summary

The horizontal transmission of cultural knowledge is a powerful mechanism of evolutionary change¹. Across taxa, group-specific cultural traditions are expressed in diverse contexts, such as foraging, tool use, self-care and socialization². These traditions arise when group members converge on specific behavioral phenotypes. When these behavioral phenotypes involve communicative signals, such as gestures, they are termed dialects³. However, gestural dialects are rare in non-humans³. Behavioral phenotypes and traditions can also be lost, a well-documented phenomenon in humans⁴, but rarely documented in non-human animals⁵. Here, we find that chimpanzee gestures produced in copulation solicitations show culturally established phenotypes and undergo cultural loss due to human-induced population decline.