Anthropologists have long suspect our ancestors were pushed into their role as master copy of engineering science when the woods they lived in turned to savannah . This hard - to - rise surmise has gained sustenance from a study of Pan troglodytes , showing our near dwell relatives respond to oftentimes change surroundings by developing full behavioral diversity .
Fifty - five geezerhood ago , the uncovering chimpanzees made toolsshocked the world . Today , we know that not only do they utilize a kind of tool but many are specific to certain population . The same is true of behaviors – some chimpanzees bunk the warmth in cave or by bathing , while such activities are unsung to others . These are ethnical traits , passed on from adult to kid within sealed groups but unknown in others .
An international squad of researchers led byDr Ammie Kalanof the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology test the influence of the environment on chimpanzee demeanor . of necessity , some behaviors only germinate under specific condition – methods for extracting a food source will not be keep long when living where that food is missing . The team want to know if all chimp population have a alike routine of choice in their toolkit or if sure environments inspire a larger array of distinctive behaviors . In particular , the squad promissory note inNature Communicationsthat this would test “ the vital assumption that population diversification preface hereditary divergence ” and the formation of unexampled species .
Using a combination of their own observations and data from other researchers , Kalan and co - authors inquire whether 31 behaviors , such as ball - crack and white ant - fishing , are present or absent in 144 chimp populations .
" Chimpanzees experiencing greater seasonality , experience in savannah woodland habitat and locate further away from diachronic Pleistocene timberland refugia were more likely to have a larger set of behaviors present , " Kalan say in astatement .
“ Environmental variance also supports cultural variegation in chimp , " Kalanconcludes . As much sense as this do , " this is some of the first cross - population data within a individual specie to bear out this idea . ”
Behavior does n’t fossilise , so we be intimate almost nothing about our ascendent ' culture before they bulge out making stone tools . Much as modern chimps may take issue from the hominins of 3 - 4 million years ago , they represent the best guide we have .
It seems likely then that when once - unchanging forests started to dry out and be put back by grassland , theAustralophicenesliving there had to either pull away further into the wood or develop the diversity of skills to survive in a changing environs . Those that stick with the old ways are foresighted extinct , while those that broaden their capacities evolved into us .
Co - authorDr Hjalmar Kühlthinks there may be more entropy to be wrung from the observations , including whether " there may be other demographic and social agent that have also played an important function in the process of behavioral diversification . "
