On a scale of 1 to 10, how cute are those baby elephants? At least a 15 in my book. Thanks for watching episode 2 of our special miniseries In Our Nature! What did you think?
I can definitely detect culture in my cow herd. New additions that didn't grow up here are like foreigners both to the herd and to the life of the landscape for about 2-3 years before they adapt into the culture of the cows born and raised here. We open up the summer pasture around first week of May and the local born as I will call them learn this from the adults and will be waiting by the gate exactly the first week of May, and they know our pasture rotation schedule, they know weaning time of the year and those routines, when they're in labor and need to be taken into the barn for assistance they know the deal and for the most part comply, but on a cooler level I've observed that the cows understand the language of the local birds. The birds get protection from the cows and get food from the flies they attract and in return the birds have eyes in the trees so when they warning scream cat incoming vs vulture incoming you get super different reactions from the cows. The cows are scared of the vultures so when they hear "vulture!" They react like someone screamed "fire!" The "foreigners" don't understand the birds like this, usually because they didn't grow up around too many trees and birds. It is so fascinating to observe these symbiotic relationships and the things they do as a group.
I love that "science" is becoming more aware of our relatives and seeing their experiences as valid. Oral history IS history. Traditional knowledge IS knowledge. Just because they are not humans doesn't mean they are nothing.
@Paula Barrocas My guess is that since science is a method, and thus it is not literally aware, they are likely using ""science""as a shorthand for people that through science get to that awareness.
@@d-star491When OP wrote ‘relatives’, they probably didn’t mean tribal people or humans in general. They meant evolutionary relatives; chimpanzee, elephants, dolphins, whales etc, our relatives by evolution through a common ancestor, which likely would encompass many many species from the first common ancestor.
Oh... I could tell the diference on the birds song. The noisy one had a 3rd minor interval at the beginning and the quiet one had a 2nd major. This birds are real musicians.
I've watched several documentaries about this (eg Secret Of The Whales). And I think it's amazing, like a human being creating a new song and going viral
Wolves too! their complex social structure is very interesting and different from ours, but as we can see, it works! And of course, crows and ravens are really cultured animals. Also interesting seeing eusocial insects learning as one entity, even tho individually they don't seem sentient enough for knowledge.
There's a lot of crows and jackdaws in my city, but I haven't payed much attention to them before. After I learned how smart and crafty they are, I really started noticing it. I was wondering where all of the walnut and hazelnut shells were coming from on the parking lot near me, since they don't grow anywhere near. Turns out the crows were dropping them there for cars and humans to crack the shells. They also often hang out near roads cutting through large fields, since roadkills are a usual occurence there, and drag the carcasses off the road, leaving nothing but fur and bones. They also collect nesting materials and food leftovers from trashcans. It's really interesting how well they've adapted to city life, and how they pass their knowledge and survival tricks from generation to generation.
Crows and ravens can also recognize human faces, far better than humans can recognize different species faces. They can also tell over crows or ravens that you're either mean or nice. When I fed and took care of a crow with an injured wing, I released it when it healed. Then lots of crows started chilling on my balcony and wouldn't fly away when I came out. My balcony became a "safe space" for them.
I love corvids. I really want to make friends with some crows, but there's none living near me :C On a different note, there's also cats. Feral cats co-parent, etc whereas domestic cats don't tend to.
@@nopenope4502 Thank you. I've had several excellent father cats and one super daddy cat (that mom nursed and defended their kittens but otherwise ignored them). The superdad was good with all babies (especially his five), and the mom seemed less depressed more responsive after I brought them in. I have wondered if fathers were typically more involved in feral populations.
@@lajya01 my cousin and I talk all the time, though, about how birds build nests right by our doors, and as we exit, they panic every time (though neither of us has once hurt their babies). With a major veg garden and orchard, I'm in and out of that door all the time, every day, for eight months of the year. And next year, they do it again. We're perplexed not at the panic (we get it; humans are nasty predators), but with a zillion trees to choose from, and places around the eaves that aren't right at our doorways, why there? So culture can be a little stupid, with stupidity carried on from generation to generation.
The team of "it's okay to be smart" deserve so much more than 4 million followers. I've gained so much from this channel, you guys are going great work. Continue this good work guys 😀😁❤️
In PA we use both. A casserole is a type of hot dish. If you go to a pot luck meal, you might be asked to bring a hot dish, that hot dish could be mac and cheese, beans, etc, but a casserole is typically a special type of hot dish with many ingredients, though the term is flexible. Tuna noodle casserole, chicken in a crumb basket, etc
Hi, stranger. I thought this channel's comment-section, if any place, would have smarteristic and smarttastic people. So i wanted to ask your opinion of a Project of mine, trying to help youtube help itself - getting it to become less of what can only be described as 'Messy' without wanting to use hard swearing... Hate, Threats, P0rn, Racism, Sexism, Scam, Spam-Bots, P0rn-Spam-Bots and much more. Oh, and of course the new Kid in Town: The Covid-Denier/Mask-Hater. All of them are non-subtle (some more than others) and therefore easy to find. I used the reportbutton as it was originally intended; not as Cancel-Culture but to help. I mean, the r-button exists. Ist not a Myth. But truth, so to speak. Get what i mean to say? Tell me any Questions and/or if youre interested in helping youtube (and the World) become less hate-filled and less s-ual.
I noticed the dialects in animals thanks to my budgies. They sing totally different to others. And it's kinda the same pattern to others in their song. But in a different pitch. I raised over 30 budgies in my house. And they even invented their own callings.
My social geography professor always used this definition of culture: A system of shared meanings that people who belong to the same community, group or nation use to help them interpret and make sense of their world.
9:57 Elephant mom describes to her group how she was abducted by aliens and that's how she got that annoying thing on her neck, so stay away from the aliens
@@NIgHTMaReFortyTwo Hi, stranger. I thought this channel's comment-section, if any place, would have smarteristic and smarttastic people. So i wanted to ask your opinion of a Project of mine, trying to help youtube help itself - getting it to become less of what can only be described as 'Messy' without wanting to use hard swearing... Hate, Threats, P0rn, Racism, Sexism, Scam, Spam-Bots, P0rn-Spam-Bots and much more. Oh, and of course the new Kid in Town: The Covid-Denier/Mask-Hater. All of them are non-subtle (some more than others) and therefore easy to find. I used the reportbutton as it was originally intended; not as Cancel-Culture but to help. I mean, the r-button exists. Ist not a Myth. But truth, so to speak. Get what i mean to say? Just this week, i got 1 Covid-Denier-Channel (yes, the entire thing, not just 1 video) and 2 Open Racists (Users, not RU-vidrs) removed. And this feels good. No, its not a 'Wonder-Miracle-Solution!!', but who needs that? Do you need that? Point is: Racists and what-not-else are easy to find. Its possible to help; evidend alone by how i already did it. So thats that. I’m not a big speech-maker, so my comment is obvioussssly lacking; so go on and ask some Questions, as is being smart. Tell me any Questions and/or if youre interested in helping youtube (and the World) become less hate-filled and less s-ual.
Jahawi has to have one of the most wonderful accents I’ve ever heard. Not to mention his calm and gentle voice. I could listen to him talk about anything all day long…
i have a teacher who firmly believes no animals other than humans have culture and/or language she also firmly believes nobody can know wether elephants mourn or just ritualistically visit dead relatives because they have nothing better to do she teaches german so one would think shed have a better understanding of how universal language is but she also teaches religion which kinda explains it all...
I always found it strange that (at least Abrahamic) religions deny that animals have a "soul", when our pets clearly show individuality and many of our human traits that we associate with "soul" - they are clearly "persons" (at least when it comes to dogs and cats, but some have similar experience with crows and ravens). "No Culture" is just another variation of this denial of the similarities that are clearly there (and quite logical in the light of Darwin's Theory [in the scientific sense] of Evolution).
I think such religious people have trust issues. They do not trust the researchers and the evidences they present. At the same time they are brainwashed to just believe the words of their cult leaders/books.
Imo any animal that is social has culture by definition. Being social is only evolutionarily advantageous if being in a group is more beneficial than being solitary. And to operate well as a group you need a set of rules and behaviours to follow, no matter whether that's built into your DNA or passed down through language. Humans are the only animals that have COMPLEX culture, but 100's of species have culture.
@Avocado Toast I'm saying we have complex culture because we have music and art etc. Animals don't have that but they have other behaviours that fall under the culture umbrella. It all depends on where you are drawing the line on culture, and that's why this video kind of doesn't make sense
@@whatshappenedhere1784 they disseminate behaviour and knowledge socially. These change over time. They engage in behaviour out of pure enjoyment. Many animals have forms of proto language, including dialects, that also appear to change over time.
@@user-zh4vo1kw1z I know about the different dialects and languages but have never considered proto-languages. So, for example, orcas and their languages/dialects now are basically modern orca. And orcas in the ancient BC times are proto-orca? Fascinating.
@@user-zh4vo1kw1z Sorry if this offends you but I'm gonna call you out on being an ecologist. They don't engage in behaviour out of pure enjoyment, animals engage in behaviour through observation or instinctually via genetics. I'm far from an ecologist but I can see you aren't qualified to be trying to refute anything I've said
My favorite bird is the Mockingbird and I used to sit in my back yard and whistle at the Mockingbird in my back yard. I kid you not, I was able to teach that bird some new calls and it like we were talking to each other.
I once camped next to a Mockingbird at full moon. They stay up singing all night with full moons. I counted over 100 unique calls (I couldn't sleep. He was incredibly loud, so it was something to do.) I was so impressed, I was ready to mate with him myself. I don't know how a female bird could have resisted him.
Birds will incorporate surrounding sounds into their calls. I've heard them imitate ambulance calls into their songs. They'll also "sample" music, human whistles, etc...
As a person who works with birds and is fascinated by community structure and communication, thank you so much for making this video! Animals are so much more intelligent and connected than most people know, I’m glad it’s becoming common knowledge
Elephants are the most amazing creatures on this planet. When I was young I was obsessed with them I collected them. I had little elephant figurines that were porcelain, marble, i even had one that was metal. Now I'm subscribed to this channel where this guy plays classical music for a real elephant. Like his piano is literally in a field hahaha, it's amazing
What a beautiful and incredible experience. Im jealous! Pretty cool to see how animals share something we mostly considered so fundamentally human. Sad to see we're destroying these rich cultures
I have always loved listening to birds calling out to each other. Every time I have moved, the first thing I notice are the different bird songs. I definitely heard the difference in the audio you played and got so exited to hear it, then devastated to hear that you all couldn’t hear it 😭 if you’re interested, listen to the birds around where you live. Zero in on them and start to recognize who is calling out and when and eventually you might be able to hear the difference in the two bird calls ❤
WOW, this is so incredibly interesting. I used to be a hunter, obsessed for years. My grandpa taught me to move slowly in the forest, stopping for long periods to listen and identify the sounds, what, who and if possible why the sounds were made. For example, identify calm squirrel sounds that are different from, squirrel to other squirrels, “MAN, MAN, RUN”, or “MAN, MAN, SAFE“ or sitting on a branch over my head, literally looking at me, “Man, GET OUT”, or “HAWK”, followed by absolute quiet and stillness. I know those sounds. I know them for other animals too. This is so right. And animals of different species, working together, to announce my presence and precise location in the woods. It’s true and a fun challenge to learn parts of their languages. Texas
I wonder, can populations of certain invasive species have culture and if so, how does that culture compare/differ from the homeland populations? That would be an interesting think to study or watch and I know me and a bunch of fellow Americans could definitely relate that to our own history/culture.
I was just thinking of writing here about a social thing I noticed when I was in South Africa; our jeep got a bit too close, scared an elephant cub the biggest of the elephants kinda told us to 'GET OUT OF HERE!' leaning in to walk towards us. Then another elephant got in its way, nodding to the big one to chill out, and another one got in its way from the other side. And to top it all off a forth elephant calmly walked towards the jeep, shooing us away (but the jeep driver didn't get the gist to just go away, so he backed up little by little (...I felt so cringe...and scared...and fascinated...and saved). Just had I had that thought, and then 8:20 comes up - I don't recognize the shaking of the head (maybe to signal "I'm the one talking"?), but the raising of the head looks very different, and the slight raise of speed's like a warning 'I can charge you, you know', and then the second elephant I imagen says "Cmon, Axel, don't rumble up trouble".
Yay! Always so excited to see animal culture and/or bioacoustics represented on Science RU-vid! White-crowned sparrows are among the best studied songbirds, but all songbirds have this kind of complex vocal culture, it's a defining trait of the clade. I did my master's thesis on the song culture of ‘i‘iwi (Drepanis coccinea). Thanks for covering this awesome topic!
❗️"Are there any other animals with culture" I’d say yes, chimpanzees are very intelligent and are our closest living relative. I imagine chimpanzees have some form of culture.
My guinea pigs have a skill passed on from earlier generations on how to make music on the chimes that hang in their habitat. The older guinea pigs teach the new ones that it's fun to make music and even how to make patterns where they favor a certain chime in the beginning of a pattern. They also teach each other how do the tricks of shake, make circle and currently they pass on the rituals of getting picked up where they first leisurely walk away to relieve themselves first and then go to the spot where they prefer to be picked up. Imagine how humans would behave if they get adopted out to aliens without ever learning anything from fellow humans. We wouldn't look very smart having to learn everything by ourselves.
Cockatoos in Australia have learned from each other ways to open and steal from garbage bins, with different subcultures for how these birds open the lids in different neighborhoods.
Thanks to the Internet we live in an age of a secular cultural awakening. I am so glad more and more people leave supersition and religion to some part behind for the endevour of progress! :D
One could argue that human culture isn't only about passing on knowledge: It is also a way of providing a common background for individuals that are not part of the same family group so they can coordinate and expand that group
WHERE does "hot dish" mean the food called a casserole? I've never heard "hot dish" to mean anything other than a plate or similar container which is too hot to touch with bare hands. A casserole could be inside a hot dish, if the dish is hot to keep the casserole warm. What part of the country is this from?
Casserole is the name of the dish used to cook with, whereas hot dish is the meal itself. ... Purpose: A casserole can serve any function, for example, a main dish, side dish, breakfast, or even dessert. A hot dish is a main meal only, as it (purportedly) contains all the nutrients one needs in a hearty meal.
10:38 This shot goes very hard. A glimpse of what Africa and perhaps the world used to be with massive herds of megafauna roaming on scales rivalling or even larger than those of the Serengeti. When it comes to the Serengeti’s great herds, people usually associated them with the millions of wildebeest, zebra, gazelles and eland that make up the great migration. The herds of elephants and other lesser known animals should be taken into consideration and with elephant numbers in the Serengeti growing rapidly, we might see more and bigger gatherings like the one seen in the video adding to the list of ‘great herds’ alongside the zebra, wildebeest and other antelope(including large herds of oryx which have currently been seen in increasing numbers in the Serengeti). I feel like these are the great herds we should also include.
I'm not sure where this fits in or if it does, but a group of elephants who'd been hand-raised to work in a trekking camp were relocated to another area of Africa. In their previous home, the only animals they'd been exposed to were cows and sheep. The new place had wildlife - lions, giraffe, zebra, impala, buffalo - typical animals in S.Africa. At first, the elephants ran from everything, but eventually they somehow learned which were a threat and which ones weren't. They also learned the normal behaviors ellies have when encountering a threat, such as charging and chasing away lions. I There were no other elephants present they could've learned this from. I don't know what to make of it.
Parrots of the same species will make very different sounds between groups, and trade "words". I've watched it happen in my small flock of budgies, each new bird would bring a unique behavior. One of my favorite birds (r.i.p Squash the budgie) was the only reason I could get the others to eat vegetables!
I watched this video specifically so I might find and comment on "men of culture" memes in a scientific setting. But usually, I binge-watch my RU-vid subscriptions on weekends.
Fewer people have watched this video than should have been the case. Maybe because the title is not as catchy as those with 'Evolution' and 'Golden Ratio' in them. But really, thanks Joe, Emily and Trace for introducing me to the existence and importance of animal cultural diversity and how it ties in with the omnipotent detritus of human progress. Stay through the banter folks, this one's worth the twenty five minutes :)
They may have culture but do they have civilization (definition: a highly developed culture, including its social organization, government, laws and arts)?
I do think many animals do. Highly social animals are very likely to. For example a woman named Jane was studying a tribe key word tribe of chimps to prove they are a very peacefull and are vegetarians. What she saw was a multi year war between the original tribe and a splinter group. After this war the original tribe was invaded and was forced back from some holdings. This is as far as I know this was the first war that we have documented from before and after from another species. Wolfs do things very similar.
I don't see culture as anything special. It's just information passed on from an individual to another within a group or something close to that, but it doesn't seem to be something that characterizes humans.
@@keeno5567 Mourning is quite useful. When you think about it: Releasing the sadness and stress through a behaviour and this in a supportive group setting. We do it too. Your personal behaviour, on the other hand, is a whole other story but at least get your screenlight on a low setting. But I can understand the temptation of cat videos
I figured out why these are so weird. I like them, keep making them, I'll just voice my thought. In cinema you have this weird thing where on scientist explains something to other scientists that you as the audience know they know. Because the scientist is actually explaining it to you, the audience. But the thing is it triggers this thing in the brain where you are like "Wait this isn't normal human conversation. This is a show." A good example is that biodiversity question at the end. I know you are talking to me but the presentation makes it seem like you are presenting to Trace and Emily (forgive me if I got the wrong name, RU-vid mobile won't let me back out without discarding). And I know those two are smart folks that know all of this. Anywho! Not really a problem. Just some strange dissonance for me.
I’m with you. To me it feels kind of condescending, but the conversational approach might be more approachable and engaging for some folks. But yeah, it’s not my favorite way of presenting information.
@@Tinyvalkyrie410 Hi, stranger. I thought this channel's comment-section, if any place, would have smarteristic and smarttastic people. So i wanted to ask your opinion of a Project of mine, trying to help youtube help itself - getting it to become less of what can only be described as 'Messy' without wanting to use hard swearing... Hate, Threats, P0rn, Racism, Sexism, Scam, Spam-Bots, P0rn-Spam-Bots and much more. Oh, and of course the new Kid in Town: The Covid-Denier/Mask-Hater. All of them are non-subtle (some more than others) and therefore easy to find. I used the reportbutton as it was originally intended; not as Cancel-Culture but to help. I mean, the r-button exists. Ist not a Myth. But truth, so to speak. No, its not a 'Wonder-Miracle-Solution!!', but who needs that? Do you need that? Point is: Racists and what-not-else are easy to find. Its possible to help; evidend alone by how i already did it. So thats that. I’m not a big speech-maker, so my comment is obvioussssly lacking; so go on and ask some Questions, as is being smart. Tell me any Questions and/or if youre interested in helping youtube (and the World) become less hate-filled and less s-ual.
My chickens have culture, and once you manage to identify that in animals, it becomes very easy to spot the differences in different social groups of the same type.
Hj Joe.. Wow amazing details.. Watching this much elephants give me goosebumps... That baby elephant is so cute.. Nice one.. Also learned about white crowned sparrows.. Awaiing for next episode.. Thanks..🙏👍
This reminds me of Beluga whales around Svalbard. Normally Beluga whales are very vocal, but the whales around Svalbard are eerily quiet and only make noise when very close together. The reason for this is thought to be because Belugas are hunted by Orcas. But the thing is, because of ice coverage and whale hunting there has not been Orcas around Svalbard for hundreds of years. So even though the threat is gone, the Belugas have retained their quiet behaviour for generations.
Thank u thank u so well done warmed my heart then it dropped as I realize I am human n part of this forced change on all other living organisms on this wonderful world......n a huge YES...
