Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T06:15:20.549Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Imitation and cultural transmission in apes and cetaceans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2001

Andrew Whiten
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9JU, Scotlanda.whiten@st-and.ac.uk www.chimp.st-and.ac.uk/cultures

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests imitation is more developed in some cetaceans than the authors imply. Apart from apes, only dolphins have so far shown a grasp of what it is to imitate; moreover dolphins ape humans more clearly than do apes. Why have such abilities not been associated with the kind of progressive cultural complexity characteristic of humans?

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)