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C ultural prim atology (i.e., the study o f behavioral traditions in nonhum an prim ates as a w indow into the
evolution o f hum an cultural capacities) was founded in
Japan by K inji Im anishi in the early 1950s. This relatively
new research area straddles different disciplines and now
benefits from collaborations betw een Japanese and W estern
prim atologists. In this paper, w e return to the cradle o f
cultural prim atology by revisiting our original articles on
behavioral innovations and traditions in Japanese m acaques. For the past 35 years, our international team o f
biologists, psychologists and anthropologists from Japan,
France, Sri L anka, the U SA and C anada, has been taking an
integrative approach to addressing the influence o f environm ental, sociodem ographic, developm ental, cognitive
and behavioral constraints on the appearance, diffusion,
and m aintenance o f behavioral traditions in Macaca fuscata across various dom ains; nam ely, feeding innovation,
tool use, object play, and non-conceptive sex.
