It is commonly believed that the difference between humans and animal is the culture. Of course, it’s the cultural advantage which helped Homo Sapiens (Present human specy) to survive over Nenderthals, who coexisted with our ancestors 40,000 years ago. The disappearance of Nenderthals is a huge mystery and there are several theories to explain their sad end. But interestingly many animals too possess a culture. Let me explain this further below.
When a street dog strays to another territory (street dogs are quite common in Indian villages and towns) and is chased by a group of barking dogs and eventually cornered then it completely lies down and raises all its four legs. This sends a clear message that “I am completely at your mercy. Forgive me”. The moment, the chased dog raises all its four legs then the invaders stop barking and accept its appeal for forgiveness and eventually let it go.
Isn’t this a culture? Of course, the difference between animal culture and human culture is that the animal culture is static, it never changes, while human culture keeps on evolving. We are all evolving cultural animals and nothing more.