Chimpanzee culture extends beyond matrilineal family units

Edwin J.C. van Leeuwen*, Roger Mundry, Katherine A. Cronin, Mark Bodamer, Daniel B.M. Haun

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalLetterAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The ‘grooming handclasp’ is one of the most well-established cultural traditions in chimpanzees. A recent study by Wrangham et al. [1] reduced the cultural scope of grooming-handclasp behavior by showing that grooming-handclasp style convergence is “explained by matrilineal relationship rather than conformity” [1]. Given that we previously reported cultural differences in grooming-handclasp style preferences in captive chimpanzees [2], we tested the alternative view posed by Wrangham et al. [1] in the chimpanzee populations that our original results were based on. Using the same outcome variable as Wrangham et al. [1] — the proportion of high-arm grooming featuring palm-to-palm clasping — we found that matrilineal relationships explained neither within-group homogeneity nor between-group heterogeneity, thereby corroborating our original conclusion that grooming-handclasp behavior can represent a group-level cultural tradition in chimpanzees.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)R588-R590
JournalCurrent Biology
Volume27
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Jun 2017
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd

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