It certainly wasn't seamless, but Nim Chimpsky ended up being a pretty solid television devotee who very clearly expressed his sexual attraction towards non-chimp researchers and handlers. There's also been some examples of how Pan infants can adapt to lifestyles and cultures that aren't their own by default. There's a lot of value in determining whether or not this is genetic or cultural, and it's possible either is true (it could be the consequence of selective pressures choosing for sex-responsive bonobos against overagressive or undersexed apes, for example, or it could well be just the way they teach one-another, or it could be both, with their culture selecting out apes who don't adapt well to their cultural values). It's possible that members of either species could adapt into the cultures of their peers, and vice versa - it's a touch of a misconception that Bonobos are less violent, in as much as at some point, they decided amongst themselves to resolve their upsets in more friendly ways. They tend not to overlap in the wild, and intermingling hasn't been observed naturally, so a lot of the thories between the species haven't been tested (plus, it could be potentially unethical to test - it's hard to justify giving a child to an adult who might kill it, and we have to treat chimps with that same sort of respect for their minds, even if we clearly have differing values).Ĭhimps and bonobos do have some pretty major cultural differences that likely wouldn't translate well with one-another, but we don't know how much of their cultures are just genetically motivated, and how many involve the transmission of knowledge and information between generations. They are very similar genetically, and there is some reporting of interbreeding in captivity, but the two species are very distinct, both in behaviour and range. Your question is really marvelous - we don't know exactly how much of the line between the two species is genetic, and cultural. That's actually a brilliant question! Sorry if my reply is a little scattered - I was always better at marketing and chimpanzees than I was writing. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.
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