Our culture is special, but not especially uncommon
Posted 08 Sep 2015 / 0National Geographic News “Sperm Whales’ Language Reveals Hints of Culture”
It is interesting how the number of animal species displaying culture keeps getting larger. There’s a lot of evolutionary convergence involved here, as the phylogenetic tree of vertebrates is still only sprinkled with pockets of culture. But those pockets of culture are deep, and therefore must have sprung from some pretty potent preadaptations present in all animals.
Which also begs the question “how did we take it to the next level?”. If all these other animals species made it to a basic level of culture, what allowed us to harness culture so much more intensely?
A Minor Post, Breeders, Propagators, & Creators, Cetaceans, Communication, Convergence, Cultural Evolution, Exaptation, Human Uniqueness, Web