When does cultural evolution become cumulative culture? A case study of humpback whale song
Culture presents a second inheritance system by which innovations can be transmitted between generations and among individuals. Some vocal behaviours present compelling examples of cultural evolution. Where modifications accumulate over time, such a process can become cumulative cultural evolution....
Published in: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8666910 2023-05-15T16:35:52+02:00 When does cultural evolution become cumulative culture? A case study of humpback whale song Garland, Ellen C. Garrigue, Claire Noad, Michael J. 2022-01-31 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8666910/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34894734 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0313 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8666910/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34894734 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0313 © 2021 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci Articles Text 2022 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0313 2022-01-09T01:26:58Z Culture presents a second inheritance system by which innovations can be transmitted between generations and among individuals. Some vocal behaviours present compelling examples of cultural evolution. Where modifications accumulate over time, such a process can become cumulative cultural evolution. The existence of cumulative cultural evolution in non-human animals is controversial. When physical products of such a process do not exist, modifications may not be clearly visible over time. Here, we investigate whether the constantly evolving songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are indicative of cumulative cultural evolution. Using nine years of song data recorded from the New Caledonian humpback whale population, we quantified song evolution and complexity, and formally evaluated this process in light of criteria for cumulative cultural evolution. Song accumulates changes shown by an increase in complexity, but this process is punctuated by rapid loss of song material. While such changes tentatively satisfy the core criteria for cumulative cultural evolution, this claim hinges on the assumption that novel songs are preferred by females. While parsimonious, until such time as studies can link fitness benefits (reproductive success) to individual singers, any claims that humpback whale song evolution represents a form of cumulative cultural evolution may remain open to interpretation. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines’. Text Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae PubMed Central (PMC) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 377 1843 |
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Articles Garland, Ellen C. Garrigue, Claire Noad, Michael J. When does cultural evolution become cumulative culture? A case study of humpback whale song |
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Articles |
description |
Culture presents a second inheritance system by which innovations can be transmitted between generations and among individuals. Some vocal behaviours present compelling examples of cultural evolution. Where modifications accumulate over time, such a process can become cumulative cultural evolution. The existence of cumulative cultural evolution in non-human animals is controversial. When physical products of such a process do not exist, modifications may not be clearly visible over time. Here, we investigate whether the constantly evolving songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are indicative of cumulative cultural evolution. Using nine years of song data recorded from the New Caledonian humpback whale population, we quantified song evolution and complexity, and formally evaluated this process in light of criteria for cumulative cultural evolution. Song accumulates changes shown by an increase in complexity, but this process is punctuated by rapid loss of song material. While such changes tentatively satisfy the core criteria for cumulative cultural evolution, this claim hinges on the assumption that novel songs are preferred by females. While parsimonious, until such time as studies can link fitness benefits (reproductive success) to individual singers, any claims that humpback whale song evolution represents a form of cumulative cultural evolution may remain open to interpretation. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines’. |
format |
Text |
author |
Garland, Ellen C. Garrigue, Claire Noad, Michael J. |
author_facet |
Garland, Ellen C. Garrigue, Claire Noad, Michael J. |
author_sort |
Garland, Ellen C. |
title |
When does cultural evolution become cumulative culture? A case study of humpback whale song |
title_short |
When does cultural evolution become cumulative culture? A case study of humpback whale song |
title_full |
When does cultural evolution become cumulative culture? A case study of humpback whale song |
title_fullStr |
When does cultural evolution become cumulative culture? A case study of humpback whale song |
title_full_unstemmed |
When does cultural evolution become cumulative culture? A case study of humpback whale song |
title_sort |
when does cultural evolution become cumulative culture? a case study of humpback whale song |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8666910/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34894734 https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0313 |
genre |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
genre_facet |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
op_source |
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8666910/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34894734 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0313 |
op_rights |
© 2021 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0313 |
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Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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377 |
container_issue |
1843 |
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1766026177212841984 |