Wild Cultures
A Comparison between Chimpanzee and Human Cultures

A journey into the lives of chimpanzees, revealing the many parallels and differences between us.

Christophe Boesch (Author)

9781107025370, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 September 2012

292 pages, 68 b/w illus. 11 tables
24.4 x 17 x 1.7 cm, 0.67 kg

'This elegantly written book is a must-read for anyone who teaches or studies 'what makes us human'.' Folia Primatologica

How do chimpanzees say, 'I want to have sex with you?' By clipping a leaf or knocking on a tree trunk? How do they eat live aggressive ants? By using a short stick with one hand or long stick with both? Ivorian and Tanzanian chimpanzees answer these questions differently, as would humans from France and China if asked how they eat rice. Christophe Boesch takes readers into the lives of chimpanzees from different African regions, highlighting the debate about culture. His ethnography reveals how simple techniques have evolved into complex ones, how teaching styles differ, how material culture widens access to new food sources and how youngsters learn culture. This journey reveals many parallels between humans and chimpanzees and points to striking differences. Written in a vivid and accessible style, Wild Cultures places the reader in social and ecological contexts that shed light on our twin cultures.

Introduction
1. Studying culture in the wild
2. From human culture to wild culture
3. Shaping nature into home: about material culture
4. One for all and all for one: about social culture
5. I want to have sex with you: about symbolic culture
6. Learning culture: from pupils to teachers
7. Dead or alive? Towards a notion of death and empathy
8. Wild culture - wild intelligence
9. Uniquely chimpanzee - uniquely human
Epilogue: will we have the time to study chimpanzee culture?
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Primates [PSVW79], Animal ecology [PSVS], Animal behaviour [PSVP], Evolution [PSAJ], Physical anthropology [JHMP], Sociology & anthropology [JH]