Animals From Whales to Wallabies Share Culture Like Humans

When Jane Goodall watched chimpanzees use twigs to fish termites from mounds in Tanzania over 50 years ago, she shattered everything scientists thought they knew about being human. Tool-making was supposed to be our special trait, the thing that made us different from every other creature on Earth.

Her mentor Louis Leakey saw the problem immediately. "Now we must redefine 'tool', redefine 'man', or accept chimpanzees as humans," he said.

Today, that single observation has blossomed into something far bigger. A groundbreaking review published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B reveals that cultural learning exists across the entire animal kingdom.

Co-led by researcher Philippa Brakes, the special journal issue documents animals from whales to wallabies teaching each other skills, passing down knowledge, and creating their own traditions. These aren't just instincts programmed into DNA but actual learned behaviors that animals share with their communities.

Whales teach their calves specific hunting techniques unique to their pod. Birds in different regions sing distinct dialects of the same song. Even creatures we rarely think of as social have been observed learning from their neighbors.

Why This Inspires

This research does more than expand our scientific knowledge. It fundamentally reshapes how we see our relationship with the natural world.

For decades, humans placed themselves on a pedestal, convinced our ability to learn and share knowledge made us superior. This discovery humbles us in the best way, revealing that we're part of a much larger community of thinking, learning, teaching beings.

Understanding that animals have culture also deepens our responsibility to protect them. When a species goes extinct, we don't just lose individual creatures but entire traditions, knowledge systems, and ways of life that took generations to develop.

The more we learn about animal culture, the harder it becomes to draw bright lines between "us" and "them." We're discovering that the qualities we thought made us special actually connect us to the rest of life on Earth in beautiful and unexpected ways.