ANIMAL CULTURES

Many animals learn, from elders, almost everything about how to become who they will be; getting answers to questions of “How do we live where we live;” leaning survival traditions that define their existence. In other words: culture. In this program, Ecologist Carl Safina will discuss his observations of culture in free-living sperm whales, scarlet macaws, and chimpanzees. Culture is the skills, behaviors, preferences, and attractions that are learned from others and passed to others. Culture stores information in pools of knowledge that pass through generations like a torch. An individual receives genes only from parents, but can receive culture from everyone in their group.   In many other animals as in humans, culture causes individuals to come together into groups, and causes groups to avoid one another. Culture in other species has been overlooked but it has important implications ranging from conservation to evolution. Culture creates a sense of family,…