Humans And Animals Are Much More Similar

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Humans and animals are much more similar than scholars have led us to believe, and we share at least two fundamental aspects of behavior that have been used for centuries to define our differences and thus our humanity: culture and learning. Animal culture and the trans-mission of cultural behaviors from one generation to the next — known as cultural transmission — are still hotly contested ideas. Two recent books, The Ape and Sushi Master by Francs de Waal and The Imitation Factor by Lee Dugatkin, support the pro-animal-culture side of the debate.

For those humans who find comparisons with animals offensive, rest easy. None of the beasts running around outdoors can write poetry or plays, paint masterpieces that hang in museums or dine with fine cutlery. But our differences, as Charles Darwin pointed out more than 100 years ago, are differences of degree and not of kind. Dugatkin, a professor of behavioral ecology at the University of Louisville, and de Waal, a primatologist at Emory University in Atlanta, provide powerful evidence for the existence Tag Heuer Replica ...
... of culture and cultural transmission in animals. Some of the evidence stems from their own research, but they also include the major findings by others in their field over the past 40 years. De Waal uses the albatross/ chicken comparison to illustrate the differences between human culture with our masterpieces of art, literature and cuisine, and animal culture with its simpler traditions — different methods of fishing for termites among chimpanzees from different troops, for instance, and different ways of grooming.

Humans have defined themselves by culture for thousands of years. Among Webster's dictionary's definitions of culture: "the integrated pattern of knowledge, belief and behavior that depends on man's capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. " The strictest definition includes the ability to use a spoken and written language and teaching as a means of transmitting knowledge, beliefs and behaviors. That one would certainly keep animals barred from the culture club, but most biologists accept a broader definition.

De Waal says he also hopes to dispel Western society's notion that culture is the opposite of human nature. The old philosophers believed that culture allowed humans to rise above their animalistic nature. De Waal says that Asians believe in a greater continuity between and humans and don't debate the existence of animal culture.

It's no secret that females and males of our species find certain traits in the opposite sex more attractive than others. Popularity and good looks often top the list. Studies at the University of Louisville found this to be true in students and also found that if one person wanted to date X, so did others — a phenomenon called date Replica Watches copying. Dugatkin designed an experiment to see if guppy love follows a similar path. As a rule, female guppies prefer to mate with bright-orange males. The preference is determined by guppies' genes. In Dugatkin's experiment, he placed female guppies in an area of their fish tank where they could observe bright-orange males and dull males at the same time and also see a female making a mate choice. Imitation of many different types of behavior is widespread in the animal kingdom, Dugatkin says.

His and de Waal's accounts may just be persuasive enough to convince humans it's finally time to open the door and allow animals into the culture club.