Western sociobiology school uses group selection theory based on biological selfish gene theory to explain various social behaviors of human beings, and thinks that human social forms, structures, types and even systems are all caused by behaviors controlled by biological genes. They think that sociality is just a general attribute of living things. Under the influence of this trend of thought, some scholars began to observe and analyze the animal world deeply, thinking that sociality is not a patent of human beings, and then thinking that animals also have their own culture and ideas. The inspiration of pecking open tits?
In the 1950s, on a sunny morning, a titmouse pecked open the bottle lid placed at the door of a family. A few weeks later, all the tits there learned this bottle opening technique and passed it on from generation to generation. ?
People began to realize that these tits have a very complicated interaction. This phenomenon immediately triggered a global debate, which is the first time that human beings began to discuss whether animals also have culture. ?
Subsequently, scientists turned their attention to primates. They found that apes in Guinea could take ants out of their holes with sticks and put them directly in their mouths, while apes in Gombe, Tanzania, lured ants to a branch and kneaded them into "meatballs" and put them in their mouths. Apes in West Africa also beat walnuts on stone slabs or boards with stone hammers to take out walnuts inside ...?
Anatomy and biology have long proved that humans and apes share 95% of the same deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), but almost everyone once thought that culture belongs to the category of non-genetic factors, and creating and owning culture is a unique feature of human beings. After studying the behavior of African apes in recent years, British scientists have come to the conclusion that 39 main behavioral differences of African apes can only be obtained through acquired learning, not congenital. ?
Several professors from Stanford University have been tracking and studying 300 ant groups for 20 years. The results show that group life has changed the behavior of these ants, and their behavior varies with age: young groups are more aggressive and antagonistic than the previous generation, while older groups are more cautious and pay more attention to diplomacy. Pay ". Because the life span of ants is only one year, it is likely that the "wisdom" created by the previous generation will be passed down from generation to generation in some special way. ?
Zoologists also found that a group of Japanese monkeys can learn from each other the skills of cleaning food. Nowadays, there are similar reports all over the world, and the research on animal culture has begun to spread to all species: minnows and rainbow salamanders can follow their companions to find the best escape path or the fastest food passage; Crows can learn from each other to make and use tools to catch food; In many areas, singing birds even created "dialects" ...
Like humans, animals are influenced by other companions in their lives. When animals make important choices, they will observe their companions and refer to the behavior of other animals. Most scientists once thought that this learning ability was caused by the genes that animals gradually possessed during the evolution of species. However, Professor Galif said that there is no doubt that more and more examples prove that human beings are not the only animals that can create culture and pass it on, and other animals may also have this ability. ?
Chimpanzees can know themselves in the mirror, look at their teeth in the mirror, and turn around to look at their backs. Sometimes they even make themselves up in front of the mirror! When they wake up, if they find paint spots on their ears, these orangutans will look at their fingers. ?
Otter can open the bottle cap of beer bottle; Octopus can take crabs out of the jar with its 500 million neurons and multiple arms. Dolphins can imitate divers to purr (just like bubbles in diving suits). All these show that animals also have self-awareness. They can also express their attitudes, learn skills, create a life, and even lie! ?
Culture liberates human beings from the jungle, liberates human beings from animal instinct, and makes countless decisions: whether it is to choose charming clothes, or to choose favorite partners, occupations and even beliefs. Animals are not stupid, they have their own unique thinking ability, magical premonition ability, amazing creativity, learning ability and adaptability …
More and more "technical learning", using tools and living in groups, let animals gradually create their own culture and pass it on from generation to generation. Kevin Leland, a psychologist at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, said, "It looks like a ladder close to humans." With the development of culture, the behavior of animals will become more and more surprising and unpredictable, and human beings have to reconsider ecological problems. ?
Hal whitehead, a biologist at Dalhousie University in Canada, said that if animals have culture, they may still have brains. If so, the gap between people and animals, which has long been recognized, will become very small. Perhaps, "there is no such imaginary gap between people and animals."