Genetics and culture
19 08 10 - 04:25
Inspiring:
A team of primatologists headed by Kevin Langergraber of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, pulled together behavioural data on nine wild chimpanzee groups, and analysed DNA samples from 246 individual apes. Groups that were more genetically different turned out to have significantly more differences in their behaviours (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1112).
While there is no suggestion that behaviour is determined directly by genes â there is no gene for termite fishing â genetics might change behaviour indirectly, by influencing manual dexterity or some aspects of intelligence, for example. "We can't rule out the genetic explanation," says Langergraber. - New Scientist
Yep, reality isn't made of human wishes... but hard biological/physical/genetic realities.