Culture Shock

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Around 5 years ago, a zoologist named Lydia Luncz visited West Africa's Ta'i National Park to observe chimpanzees. What she discovered could possibly change science forever. First, she visited the southern end of the park and observed that the chimpanzees located there used stone hammers to crack open nuts. This has been observed before, so what is so different about it now? Well, she observed chimps inhabiting the northern and eastern parts of the park and noticed that they used wooden hammers as the tool for cracking nuts. The big question was, "If these animals live in the same forest, then why do they use different techniques of obtaining their food?" Luncz was curious as to why this was happening, so she observed the adult females, being that they often leave their birth community. Her finding were that the females adopted whatever technique their new community used. What does this tell us? That chimps may have developed their own cultural traditions just as we do! Lydia Luncz is the first to show us that there are actually differences in neighboring groups of chimps even though they live in the same area. It seems like the more we observe these chimps, the more similarities we find between them and ourselves.
Sources: http://discovermagazine.com/2012/dec/25-chimps-share-nut-cracking-culture

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2012/05/15/science/15OBCHIMP1.html

Where Would We Be Without Him...?

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The theory of natural selection is easily one of the most profound in the history of biology. Who do we have to thank for it? Well, the answer to that question is easy...his name is Charles Darwin. He's one of the most important people in the world of biology. But how did he come up with this theory you ask? It all started in 1831 when he set off on a 5 year long voyage on a ship named the HMS Beagle. He had heard that the captain of the ship was planning to chart poorly known parts of the South American coast. Since he had always been very interested in nature he looked at this as a perfect opportunity to learn more about the world. While the ship's crew was busy surveying the coast, Darwin spent his time on shore collecting thousands of specimens and sketches of new organisms. While on the Galapagos islands, he noticed that organisms on different islands were different but similar at the same time to that of organisms on neighboring islands. Influenced by Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology, he decided to find out more about this. He concluded that Earth constantly changes due to natural forces. He also discovered that the reason organisms from different islands had some of the same traits was because they evolved from a common ancestor. He explained this as a logical explanation called "descent with modification" which later on became known as natural selection. Without the knowledge of what Darwin discovered we probably would not know as much about evolution as we do today
Sources: Class Notes-Chapter13: How Populations Evolve