A multidisciplinary view on cultural primatology: behavioral innovations and traditions in Japanese macaques

Abstract

AttachedC 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.