Do Animals Have Their Own Traditions and Pass Knowledge on to Their Young?

A young chimpanzee watches its mother use a tool. An orca follows its family, learning where to find food. A young bird listens to adults singing before mastering its own distinctive song. Although these animals inhabit very different worlds, they share something remarkable: they acquire some of the skills they need for life from other individuals. For a long time, the importance of animal traditions was underestimated, and culture was regarded primarily as a human characteristic. Today, research shows that animals can also maintain behaviours passed on through social learning. Some of these customs may persist across generations, becoming a distinctive feature of a particular group. This changes the way we view animal families and communities. They are also places where experience is gained – a kind of school of life in which knowledge passes from one individual to another.

What Is Animal Culture?

In everyday language, culture brings to mind literature, music, art and customs. In animal research, the term has a different, broader meaning: it refers to behaviours acquired from other individuals and maintained within a community through this transmission. An animal tradition may therefore involve finding food, using tools or communicating. It does not have to resemble a human ritual. What matters is that individuals learn the behaviour from members of their group. This does not mean that genes cease to matter. Innate predispositions, individual experience and environmental influences work together. A difference between two populations is therefore not enough, on its own, to establish the existence of a tradition. Scientists need to investigate whether the behaviour actually spreads through social learning, while also considering environmental and biological factors.

Chimpanzees – Skills Acquired over Years

Chimpanzees are among the best-studied tool-using animals. Their behaviour also shows that even an apparently simple activity can require considerable practice. Extracting termites is a good example. In some communities, chimpanzees use several tools in a particular sequence. They must select suitable plant material, prepare it and then use it skilfully. In Goualougo, in the Republic of the Congo, researchers have observed chimpanzees making probes with brush-like tips that help them collect the insects. Young chimpanzees can watch more experienced individuals and practisealongside them. Adults sometimes also give a youngster a ready-made tool. Studies have shown that this assistance improves the inexperienced individual’s performance, while the donor gives up some time that could otherwise have been spent feeding. This behaviour meets the criteria for teaching used in biology. There are no spoken instructions in this forest school. Instead, there is observation, practice, patience and the opportunity to benefit from the experience of others.

Orcas – Family Knowledge of the Ocean

The ocean also contains communities whose daily lives are shaped by shared experience. Orcas are particularly interesting because researchers have investigated the importance of knowledge held by older family members. In a studied population of salmon-eating resident orcas, older females that had stopped reproducing often led the group through feeding grounds. Their leadership was especially apparent in years when salmon were scarce. These findings support the explanation that the females’ accumulated experience helps their relatives cope with difficult conditions. An older orca may therefore play a family role that cannot be assessed solely through her ability to produce offspring. Her value also lies in her knowledge of the environment—experience acquired over decades of life. Losing such an individual may mean losing an important guide. This illustrates why age and social relationships matter to the functioning of animal families.

Sperm Whales – Communities with Their Own Sound

Sperm whales provide another fascinating example. These animals communicate, among other ways, through short, structured sequences of clicks known as codas. Researchers distinguish cultural clans of sperm whales whose members share distinctive repertoires of these signals. Some clans also differ in their social behaviour, movements and foraging habits. Significantly, these differences can occur between groups using the same area of ocean. This points to the importance of social learning, rather than environmental differences alone. Comparing this phenomenon with human dialects helps us imagine it, but it does not mean that sperm whale communication is equivalent to human language. The key point is that a shared way of communicating is a characteristic of the community and can be maintained by its members.

Birds – Songs That Must Be Learned

Birdsong sounds so natural that it is easy to assume it is entirely innate. Yet in many species, normal song development requires listening to other individuals and practising. A young bird has biological predispositions for learning, but experience also influences the final form of its song. In some populations, this leads to local dialects. However, this is not a rule that applies to all birds or even to all species that learn their songs. The timing and process of learning can also vary. Birds’ socially acquired knowledge extends beyond communication. Researchalso covers foraging methods, recognising threats and migration routes. Drawing on the experience of others can help birds find resources and navigate their environment.

Do Animals Really Teach Their Young?

Watching an adult and being actively taught are two different things. A youngster may acquire knowledge simply by spending time near an experienced individual. To identify teaching in the biological sense, researchers seek additional evidence: the adult’s behaviour should facilitate learning, and the change in behaviour should involve some cost or no immediate benefit to the teacher. This does not require proof that the animal understands learning in the same way humans do. Meerkats provide an example. Older group members adjust the way they provide food according to the age of the young, giving them opportunities to practise handling live prey. Observational and experimental studies have shown that this assistance speeds up skill acquisition. It is also worth remembering that the teachers are not always parents. Other carers and community members can also be sources of knowledge. Animal education can therefore be a shared effort involving the wider group.

Why Do Traditions Matter for Conservation?

Animal conservation has long involved protecting habitats and reducing threats. Knowledge of culture adds another element to this picture: the importance of relationships and experience. In sperm whales, differences between clans can influence how they use the ocean and, consequently, their vulnerability to threats. The presence of other sperm whales in a region may therefore fail to compensate for the loss of a particular clan and its traditions. Similar questions arise when birds are returned to the wild. If an important skill requires contact with an experienced individual, releasing healthy animals may not, by itself, solve every problem. Taking social learning into account can help improve the planning of reintroductions and movements of individuals between populations.

A Heritage That Cannot Be Seen in Genes

Do animals have their own traditions? For many species, the answer is yes. Do they pass knowledge on to their young? Again, yes, although this happens in different ways – through observation, shared activities, practice and, in some cases, active assistance. Not every animal skill is a tradition, and not every community learns in the same way. This diversity is precisely what makes the subject so interesting. When we look at a group of animals, we see individuals living alongside one another. Yet we increasingly understand that they are also connected by something less visible: experience passed between generations. By protecting their communities, we may also preserve this knowledge—songs, skills and customs that cannot be recreated from genes alone.