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Western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in Gabon expand the potential cultural repertoire of the genus Gorilla

par Vogt, Koro
Président du jury Dahdouh-Guebas, Farid
Promoteur Vercauteren, Martine ;Robbins, Martha
Publication Non publié, 2023-08-31

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Résumé :

Culture has historically been considered a key characteristic of humanity. However, in recent decadesresearch into culture in non-human animais has made remarkable progress. The Method of Exclusion(MoE) has been widely applied for the preliminary assessment of the occurrence of culture in manyspecies, by identifying patterns of geographic variation in behaviour unexplained by ecological andgenetic correlates and consistent with social learning. Among the great apes, the genus Gari/la hasbeen relatively understudied bath in terms of social learning and culture. This study builds on theonly assessment of cultural variation in gorillas by MoE through the addition of a population ofwestern gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in Gabon. The repertoire of gorillas was expanded from 23 to27 potential cultural behaviours through the reclassification of one environ mental, one gestural andtwo foraging traits. An additional analysis of the cultural traits was made through a quantitativeassessment of systematically recorded behaviours, revealing that some were more prevalent thanpreviously thought. Our findings provide additional support that culture permeates all aspects ofsocio-ecology of great apes and that the MoE likely only scratches the surface of the true repertoireof culture in gorillas as for other species. Future efforts should not only focus on refining themethods for the assessment of cultural diversity among individuals and populations, but also aim tobridge the knowledge gap in underlying social learning mechanisms. A greater understanding ofculture in non-human animais may help inform conservation strategies and provide insight intohuman evolution.