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Orangutans Helping Discover Our Evolution
DiZASTiX writes "An article at MSNBC says, Orangutans share distinct "tricks of the trade" for feeding, nesting and communicating. Scientists say these behaviors represent humanlike culture. The discovery offers tantalizing new clues about our own evolution. By documenting these behaviors scientists are finding more and more information on our past. We may be more related to monkeys than we think."
Ook?
No, I'm sure Michael did not mean to imply orangutans are monk-
Eek!
are not apes.
Ook.
The Science article makes the case that observed orangutan behavior is more closely correlated with geographic location and opportunities for direct transfer of skills than to habitat (independent innovation). The authors then speculate that the common ancestor of all the great apes could have had this ability, and therefore, the beginnings of hominid culture could extend back 14 million years.
I find it interesting to speculate that something in our neural circuitry enabled early primates to learn from each other. I wonder if anyone within the human brain project is considering this area of research.
First entomology, then virology, and finally bioinformatics systems. Bugs follow me wherever I go.
The fact that they have these types of social interactions is not new, what is new is that distinct geographically isolated populations have different ways of accomplishing the same thing.
NPR ran a nice piece on this today, and used the example of a fruit which one population eats by getting it open with a stick (a picture is included in the MSNBC article). A neighboring population seperated by a river, either eats the fruit by bashing it on rocks (much more inneficient) or by ignoring it as too hard to bother with. i.e. one population has learned to use a tool for specific task and has passed that information on the other Orangs in the community. Its the passing on of this knowledge, and the fact that it couldn't be passed to the neighboring population that makes this 'culture'.
From a SlashDot perspective, one could speculate that on the one side of the river, the solution for eating the fruit has been open sourced. But on the other side of the river, the solution was either never discovered, or if it was found, was closed source and died with its dicoverer(s).
Other examples given are a Kiss-Squeek gesture & sound, and "snag riding" a demonstration of male virility of breaking off trees and holding on to them while they fall, jumping off before they hit the ground (Orang candidates for the Darwin Awards perhaps?).
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My cats learn from watching each other all the time (primarily how to get into all sorts of mischief). That doesn't mean they have culture!
Joe
http://www.joegrossberg.com