Four-year-old Noelle "tests" an object by chewing on it.

Instinct dictates much of animal behavior, like salmon returning to their spawning grounds or birds flying south for the winter. Culture, on the other hand, governs much of human behavior; like driving on the right side of the street or shaking hands when we meet someone new.

At six different sites in Africa, primate researchers have documented 39 different behaviors that exist in some chimpanzee groups, but not in others. For example, in Kibale Forest in Uganda and at Mahale in Tanzania, chimps clasp their hands above their heads while they groom. Not so at Gombe, where arms held down is the norm. These, then, are learned, not instinctual behaviors, and primatologists now say chimpanzees have their own primitive form of culture.

A researcher shows nine-year-old Grub how to play the cymbals.

In "Chimp Nations," we visit a chimpanzee sanctuary where psychologist David Bjorklund investigates how young chimps learn. Four-year-old Noelle is shown how to use a plastic hammer and nail. She easily mimics the behavior, but she might be too young to get the underlying concept. Nine-year-old Grub, however, proves he's up to the task. He's shown how to play a pair of symbols, then figures out that he can use a pair of trowels the same way- albeit to a less musical affect. This kind of generalizing is the basis of human learning. We'll never really know if this is how wild chimps learn, but Grub, and the different behaviors documented in the wild provides a glimpse into the chimpanzee mind.

For more on this topic, see the web feature:
Primates Like Us