Hey hubski
For the past two months I been working on the first YouTube video for The Advanced Apes with my friends Alicia Herbert and Drew Hewitt. And finally we are releasing the finished product. We have to make a lot of improvements but for a first attempt I'm really proud. I would LOVE feedback and comments.
Thanks to thenewgreen for the allowing me to use one of his songs for the intro music.
Cadell
How do y'all distinguish between a courtship ritual that is "traditional" as opposed to instinctive? (About 4:15 in the video.) Many species have courtship rituals, but I was under the impression that they were inborn. It makes sense that chimps would be different, I just don't know how you would tell or what parameters you would set to differentiate between the two. Second question: you say that chimps have a level of culture unparalleled in the animal kingdom -- exactly how far beyond, say, gorillas, are they? Or dolphins? Elephants? And finally, you might want to pick back up with the intro song for those last twenty seconds of silence, unless there was a reason for that. Oh, and a "thanks for watching" at the end would wrap things up nicely, at the moment it's very abrupt.
Thanks for your suggestions. I am definitely not happy with all aspects of the video - and I agree with you about the ending. For the second video we will likely do a few things differently. 1. A courtship ritual or grooming pattern is classified to be cultural based on a few factors. A) it has to be something that is context specific (i.e., chimp x and chimp y are good friends and they always clasp hands in a certain way that they would never do with chimp z). B) it is a behaviour that is not universal and/or is diffused in a way one would expect if it was socially learned and passed down from generation to generation. C) It is something that is not ecologically determined (i.e., the behaviour can be explained away based on whether or not there is a certain ecological feature that is absent at another site). 2. In terms of overall cultural variants chimpanzees don't really have any close competition at the moment. I recently wrote about culture in other great ape populations if you want to learn more about that. Few studies have been done and we will continue to learn more about how culture varies between great ape species. And to be honest it is hard to compare culture in great apes to culture in cetaceans and birds for example. In my mind, it appears as though great apes, cetaceans, and birds excel at different types of cultural behaviours, and although chimpanzees possess the highest number of cultural variants, New Calendonian Crows have produced the best evidence for cumulative culture (which I will be writing about in the near future).
If I might seek clarification: so basically if you see some chimps holding hands, but not all chimps hold hands, and there's no factor suggesting that they should, it's a "traditional" sort of thing? i.e. they might in some fashion "love" for more than just the sake of reproduction? I'll check out that link tonight, and stay on the lookout for your crow article. I really appreciate you taking the time to elucidate this stuff.1. A courtship ritual or grooming pattern is classified to be cultural based on a few factors. A) it has to be something that is context specific (i.e., chimp x and chimp y are good friends and they always clasp hands in a certain way that they would never do with chimp z). B) it is a behaviour that is not universal and/or is diffused in a way one would expect if it was socially learned and passed down from generation to generation. C) It is something that is not ecologically determined (i.e., the behaviour can be explained away based on whether or not there is a certain ecological feature that is absent at another site).
Well it need not be "traditional." But for humans holding hands is very symbolic. I don't hold hands with anyone and I only do it in certain contexts. Holding hands is something many romantic partners do in the West, and they typically do it on dates or walks together etc. This is not the same for all couples cross-culturally. Holding hands is not the universal way couples walk together. It is something that we socially learn. It is a part of western culture. Likewise, there are certain chimp behaviours that are involved in friendship and courtship that are learned group-specific behaviours. Some will have certain hand clasps, grooming practices, or hand gestures that are only done with certain individuals in certain contexts. They represent cultural variants that can be mapped across chimpanzee populations in sub-Saharan Africa.
Cadell, this is really wonderful work. It's a fascinating topic that is well presented verbally and artistically. My hats off to your animator, I really enjoy what she's brought to life. I know that a lot of work has gone in to this and it is evident by the quality. Now to my question: When people from different cultures move to another place with a different culture they inevitably have to conform to their new culture but they also bring their own cultural footprint with them. Does this occur with chimpanzee's as well? Are there cases of chimpanzee's being introduced to new "groups" of chimps and introducing to them new behaviors? Fascinating stuff!
To me, this is a question for the next generation of primatologists. It may be an answerable question for the program the Max Planck Institute is attempting, which would attempt to study all chimpanzee groups cultural behaviours using motion-sensor camera traps. However, at the moment it is really not well understood how culture diffuses between chimpanzee groups. In fact, this is quickly becoming a contentious issue between anthropologists and psychologists. Psychologists claim that we cannot be sure that chimpanzees are as complex culturally as anthropologists claim until we know that their cultures diffuse and are transmitted in the same way that human culture diffuses and is transmitted. They claim that until we understand this, it is possible that what we are observing are simply products of ecology, genetics, and random chance.
Can you look at chimpanzee behavior in captivity and see examples of cultural diffusion?
Well there have been cultural diffusion studies. In 2005 Andrew Whiten conducted a well-known experiment where two alpha individuals were taught two different tool techniques for opening a box containing food. When they were placed back in their separate groups everyone learned that specific tool technique. It is an example of how diffusion could work in the wild. But we have no data chronicling the diffusion of a major cultural behaviour between field sites. This could be because they are so isolated from each other. If that's the case then it would be like expecting humans in the 1300s to be diffusing cultural practices between Eurasia and the Americas.
Very well done, especially considering that this is the first time. I'm trying to think of ways to make improvements, but nothing immediately comes to my mind. It has it's own feel, and is consistent in cadence and presentation. I'm sure you all already have ideas for what you will do on the next one, but this is a very solid place to start. I don't think RSA animate has anything on this. The only thing I can think of is whether or not you've tried to mix photos in the animation. But, it might be jarring, and this is a conceptual topic, so the photos wouldn't necessarily translate anything extra. Congratulations, and thanks for the shout-out. :)
Thanks mk. At the moment these are my ideas for improvements: For myself: quicker and calmer narration (also, about 2 minutes shorter scripts). And a better sign off (still including Hubski of course!) For my animator: more colour (and a friend has told me smooth frame rate(?)) For my audio-video guy: more sound effects, more experimentation with placement of background music and a cleaner ending.
Hey, I actually just finished doing research on studies focused on bonobo culture. There has been one major study. I'm going to copy and paste what I have written about this topic from a book chapter I'm working on: "A study by Gottfried Hohmann and Barbara Fruth in 2003 partially uncovered the cultural world of our other most closely related relative: the bonobo. Inspired by the “Cultures in chimpanzees” study by Whiten et al. (1999), Hohmann & Fruth wanted to know how many of the cultural variants described in chimpanzees were also present within Lomako’s bonobo population. By analyzing behavioural data between 1991 and 1998, they revealed that 14 cultural variants in chimpanzees are also present in bonobos. These include branch drag, leaf sponge, branch clasp, vegetation seat, aimed throw, and the hand clasp (Hohmann & Fruth, 2003). Although the study sample was considerably smaller than the one used by Whiten et al. (1999), this study raised the possibility that chimpanzees were more culturally complex than their sister species (Tennie, et al., 2009). However, future research will still need to be conducted to understand the cultural differences between chimpanzees and bonobos. The results of these studies will likely have deep implications for understanding the emergence of human culture."
Hmmm. I was reading in the latest issue of National Geographic that the way that bonobos and chimps socialize is very different and it seemed to me as a lay person that the way that chimps socialize is much closer to the way humans socialize than the way bonobos do. In humans, it's pretty clear that culture plays a huge role in how people are socialized and how they socialize with others from outside their culture vs. how they socialize with people from within their culture, but language seems to be a huge part of that, so I wonder, can bonobos and chimps communicate with each other? From the article I read in National Geographic it seems like they don't have much contact with each other.
Well they have no contact with each other in the wild. Bonobos are a different species because a population of Pan became genetically isolated south of the Congo River about 800,000 to 1 million years ago. However, they can communicate well with each other in artificial settings. For example the bonobo Panbanisha was raised in a human-chimp-bonobo hybrid culture. I wrote about this last year. In my mind the biggest and most significant difference between chimpanzees and bonobos socially is the fact that chimpanzees seem to be more competitive (especially when a resource is monopolizable) and bonobos appear to be more cooperative (even when a resource is monopolizable). This general tendency causes both species to excel at different tasks. It is a little more complicated than that.. but I can link a few research studies discussing this if you are interested.
That was a great watch. I enjoyed both the style and content. I have never really thought about the differences in animal communities as culture - very thought provoking. I look forward to the findings of the further research into the integration of different cultures that you mention above. I wonder if some chimp cultures have social norms that would be taboo to a different culture.