Chimps

Chimps show [other:another] chimps how to use tools. My roommate showed me some tricks to make better scrambled eggs. Group members teaching each other is called cultural transmission. And a study finds that cultural [transmission:transformation] is behind the spread of a hunting technique among humpback whales off New England. The research is in the journal Science. It's called "lobtail" feeding: a humpback whale slaps the surface of the water with its [tail:end] . The resulting bubbles pen in prey fish, which the [whales:will] gobble up. Researchers first saw lobtail feeding in 1980. Within 30 years, 37 percent of observed humpbacks had picked up the technique. To create mathematical [models:moods] for the spread of lobtail feeding, researchers used 27 years of data from whale-watching boats in the Gulf of Maine. And the models that [included:precluded] cultural transmission as a factor best matched the data. Those models assumed that humpback whales that spend more time with lobtail feeders were more likely to [pick:dig] up the method themselves. Clearly, whales are capable of sophisticated social interactions - and we've only seen the tip of the tail.