Probably More Cultured Than I
New York Times: Orangutans Have Culture.
If orangutans have culture, do they also experience culture shock? If you take one orangutan out of its (tribe? herd? flock? what do you call a group of orangutans?) and place it in another, how does it cope? Is it mocked by the other orangutans? Does it adapt?
Amanda, I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again, but you need to get on this.
January 02, 2003 - 03:22 PM
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Okay. Orangutans have culture in the fact that the females of the species pass knowledge on to their offspring. Orangutans don’t have large groups. They are so solitary that conflict occurs upon encountering another orangutan. One male patrols a large area, and females have smaller territories within the larger male area. The females don’t overlap, and only tolerate the male when it’s the appropriate time. There’s no sharing of parental care.
That seems all a jumble. Does that make sense?
Fair enough. Some knowledge mentioned in the article doesn’t really seem like it would be passed on from the mother. A specific example would be their mentioning that some male orangutans masturbate with the aid of sticks, while some don’t (I don’t really want to know the specifics of that). Would that be a mother->son-passed bit of culture?
AJS