He elegantly describes examples of cultural variations among chimpanzee communities, such as the distribution of hand-clasp grooming (wherein two chimpanzees might, for example, groom each other with their left hands while joining their right hands above their heads) and of hammer-and-anvil techniques for cracking nuts. In the hands of a clumsier writer, this combativeness might have come across as a tedious diatribe or mere grousing, but McGrew makes his case deftly, and his ideas are intellectually stimulating. Certain psychologists and anthropologists might not be quite so amused.) (Having dealt with similar antagonism, I must admit that I cackled gleefully at some of these gibes. McGrew peppers the remainder of the book with digs at his peers in sociocultural anthropology and comparative psychology, who generally reject claims that nonhuman animals exhibit culture. The first few chapters are clearly a response to this academic hostility. Scientists in certain other closely related disciplines do not take kindly to use of the term culture with reference to nonhumans. Those unfamiliar with developments in cultural primatology may be surprised by the defensive tone that pervades the book. This apparent fad is actually an excellent illustration of why McGrew uses the term culture instead of tradition to describe the behavioral variations seen in primate populations many phenomena in humans appear and spread rapidly in less than one generation, and so are unquestionably cultural without being traditions. McGrew and colleagues presented evidence of culture in chimpanzees more than a quarter of a century ago, but only in recent years has there been a surge of interest in the cultures of chimpanzees and other animals, including orangutans, capuchin monkeys and cetaceans.
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