time, and their are many Gombe chimps that have never mastered it. Only certain types of twigs will work for the job. Also, once the twig is in the hill and the chimp judges that the termites are crawling on its surface, the chimp has to quickly flip the twig as he pulls it out so that the termites are on top, otherwise they would all fall off. The cultural transmission of a communication system through learning is a fundamental attribute of language. Trained chimpanzees Washoe and Lucy have tried to teach Ameslan to other animals, including their own offspring. Washoe has taught gestures to other chimps at the institute where she is, including her son, Sequoia, who died when he was very young. There has been other cases of cultural transmission from chimp to chimp. Chimps and gorillas have at least a simple capacity for language. They may never have invented a meaningful gesture system in the wild. However, given a system, they show many human like abilities in learning and using it. Of course, language use by apes is a product of human intervention and teaching. The experiments dont suggest that apes can invent language. But young apes have managed to learn the basics of gestures and language. Apes, like humans, may also try to teach their language to others. Lucy, not fully realizing the difference between primate hands and feline paws, once tried to mold her pet cats paw into Ameslem signs. There is more than enough proof that primates have the capacity to learn behavior, and attempts to teach it to others. If culture is defended as learned behavior, it seems reasonable to suggest that primates to have culture....
