Professor Andrew Whiten, Wardlaw Professor in the School of Psychology and Neuroscience, will deliver this year’s Sir James Black Prize and Medal Lecture at the Royal Society of Edinburgh. We humans acquire so much of our behaviour from the culture we are brought up in that one might suppose separates us from the rest of nature. A rapidly growing array of animal studies shows instead that learning from others is widespread and in some species, creates surprisingly rich local cultures. This lecture highlights recent discoveries in primates and other speciies, revealing animal culture as a "second inheritance system" in biology that complements the better known results of genetic inheritance.
The lecture will take place at the Royal Society of Edinburgh in George Street at 6pm on 19th May 2014. Admission is free but seats – already being snapped up - must be booked in advance via The Cultures of Apes and other Animals.
