| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Gregory Gadow" |
| Date: |
22 Aug 2005 09:24:45 AM |
| Object: |
Chimpanzee culture confirmed |
Chimpanzee culture 'confirmed'
By Helen Briggs
BBC News science reporter
Primate experts say they have proven that chimpanzees, like humans, show
social conformity.
By training captive chimps to use tools in different ways, they have
shown experimentally that primates develop cultural traditions through
imitation.
This has long been suspected from observations in the wild, but has not
been shown directly.
It suggests that culture has ancient origins, scientists write in
Nature.
The study was carried out by a team at the University of St Andrews in
the UK and the National Primate Research Center of Emory University in
Atlanta, US.
They presented two different groups of chimps with a problem relevant to
their wild cousins: how to retrieve an item of food stuck behind a
blockage in a system of tubes.
One chimpanzee from each group was secretly taught a novel way to solve
the problem. Ericka was taught how to use a stick to lift the blockage
up so that the food fell out.
Another female chimp, Georgia, was shown how to poke at the blockage so
that the ball of food rolled out of the back of the pipes.
Each chimp was then reunited with its group, and the scientists watched
how they behaved.
They found that the chimps gathered around Ericka or Georgia and soon
copied their behaviour. By the end of two months, the two different
groups were still using their own way of getting at the food and two
distinct cultural traditions had been established.
"This is the first time that any scientist has experimentally created
two different traditions in any primate," Professor Andrew Whiten of the
University of St Andrews told the BBC News website.
"Moreover it is the first time anyone has ever done this with tool use
in any animal."
The article continues at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4166756.stm
--
Gregory Gadow
techbear@serv.net
http://www.serv.net/~techbear
"Without faith we might relapse into scientific or rational thinking,
which leads by a slippery slope toward constitutional democracy."
- Robert Anton Wilson
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| User: "Uncle Buck" |
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| Title: Re: Chimpanzee culture confirmed |
24 Aug 2005 08:18:25 PM |
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On 22 Aug 2005 11:06:57 -0700, "Richard Forrest"
<richard@plesiosaur.com> wrote:
MarkA wrote:
On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 07:24:45 -0700, Gregory Gadow wrote:
Chimpanzee culture 'confirmed'
By Helen Briggs
BBC News science reporter
Primate experts say they have proven that chimpanzees, like humans, show
social conformity.
Now, give them bibles, and watch the fun begin!
Chimps don't believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.
Does this make them more intelligent than creationists?
I'd say so, but even _more_ so, chimps would probably use the pages of
the Bible to wipe their asses. Can't tell _me_ they're not the
fundie's superior. :-)
--
L8r,
Uncle Buck
_o-O=~_o-O=~_o-O=~_o-O=~_o-O=~_o-O=~_o-O=
http://surrenderingtothefall.blogspot.com
~=O-o_~=O-o_~=O-o_~=O-o_~=O-o_~=O-o_~=O-o
"I absolutely detest it when people quote
themselves." - Me
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| User: "Apostate" |
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| Title: Re: Chimpanzee culture confirmed |
22 Aug 2005 03:22:34 PM |
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On 22 Aug 2005 11:06:57 -0700, "Richard Forrest" <richard@plesiosaur.com> wrote:
MarkA wrote:
On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 07:24:45 -0700, Gregory Gadow wrote:
Chimpanzee culture 'confirmed'
By Helen Briggs
BBC News science reporter
Primate experts say they have proven that chimpanzees, like humans, show
social conformity.
Now, give them bibles, and watch the fun begin!
Chimps don't believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.
Does this make them more intelligent than creationists?
Surely, but it's an unimpressive comparison, as a well-mowed lawn matches it.
RF
--
MarkA
(still caught in the maze of twisty little passages, all different)
--
/Apostate
alt.atheist #1931 I've found it!
BAAWA Knife AND SMASHer
EAC Supernumerary Deputy Director, Department of Redundancy Department
plonked by Lani_girl, first post; Billions Served!
I doubt, therefore I might be.
e-mail to lower-case only
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| User: "Gregory Gadow" |
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| Title: Re: Chimpanzee culture confirmed |
22 Aug 2005 02:24:06 PM |
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Richard Forrest wrote:
MarkA wrote:
On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 07:24:45 -0700, Gregory Gadow wrote:
Chimpanzee culture 'confirmed'
By Helen Briggs
BBC News science reporter
Primate experts say they have proven that chimpanzees, like humans, show
social conformity.
Now, give them bibles, and watch the fun begin!
Chimps don't believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.
Does this make them more intelligent than creationists?
That depends. Did either of the two groups of chimps, each with a different way
of solving a problem, start any doctrinal wars because the other group was doing
it *wrong*?
--
Gregory Gadow
techbear@serv.net
http://www.serv.net/~techbear
"Without faith we might relapse into scientific or rational thinking,
which leads by a slippery slope toward constitutional democracy."
- Robert Anton Wilson
.
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| User: "MarkA" |
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| Title: Re: Chimpanzee culture confirmed |
22 Aug 2005 04:56:00 PM |
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On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 12:24:06 -0700, Gregory Gadow wrote:
Richard Forrest wrote:
MarkA wrote:
On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 07:24:45 -0700, Gregory Gadow wrote:
Chimpanzee culture 'confirmed'
By Helen Briggs
BBC News science reporter
Primate experts say they have proven that chimpanzees, like humans,
show social conformity.
Now, give them bibles, and watch the fun begin!
Chimps don't believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. Does this make them
more intelligent than creationists?
That depends. Did either of the two groups of chimps, each with a
different way of solving a problem, start any doctrinal wars because the
other group was doing it *wrong*?
--
Yes. The God in the White Lab Coat gave the ancestors this way of getting
food past the obstruction. Woe unto he that uses some other method.
BLASPHEMER!!!
Gregory Gadow
techbear@serv.net
http://www.serv.net/~techbear
"Without faith we might relapse into scientific or rational thinking,
which leads by a slippery slope toward constitutional democracy." -
Robert Anton Wilson
--
MarkA
(still caught in the maze of twisty little passages, all different)
.
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