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Orangutan Cultures and the Evolution of Material Culture
Carel P. van Schaik,1*Marc Ancrenaz,2Gwendolyn Borgen,1Birute Galdikas,34Cheryl D. Knott,5Ian Singleton,6Akira Suzuki,7Sri Suci Utami,89Michelle Merrill1
Geographic variation in some aspects of chimpanzee
behavior has been interpreted as evidence for culture. Here we documentsimilar geographic variation in orangutan behaviors. Moreover,as
expected under a cultural interpretation, we find a correlationbetween
geographic distance and cultural difference, a correlationbetween the
abundance of opportunities for social learning andthe size of the
local cultural repertoire, and no effect of habitaton the content of
culture. Hence, great-ape cultures exist, andmay have done so for at
least 14 million years.
1 Department of Biological Anthropology and
Anatomy, Duke University, Post Office Box 90383, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
2 Kinabatangan Orang-Utan Conservation Project, Post
Office Box 3109, 90734 Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia.
3 Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser
University, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6 Canada.
4 Orangutan
Foundation International, 822 South Wellesly Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
90049, USA.
5 Department of Anthropology, Harvard
University, Peabody Museum, 53C, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA
02138, USA.
6 Sumatran Orangutan Conservation
Programme, Post Office Box 1472, Medan 20000, Indonesia.
7 Primate Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama,
Aichi 484, Japan.
8 Fakultas Biologi, Universitas
Nasional, Jalan Sawo Manila, Pejaten, Pasar Minggu, Jakarta 12520, Indonesia.
9 Department of Behavioral Biology,
University of Utrecht, Post Office Box 80086, 3508 TB Utrecht,
Netherlands.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
vschaik{at}duke.edu
Present address: Orangutan Foundation International, 4201 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 407, Los Angeles, CA 90010, USA.
