We disagree with two of Rendell and Whitehead’s assertions. Culture may be an ancestral characteristic of terrestrial cetacean ancestors; not derived via marine variability, modem cetacean mobility, or any living cetacean social structure. Furthermore, evidence for vocal behavior as culture, social stability, and cognitive ability, is richer in birds than Rendell and Whitehead portray and comparable to that of cetaceans and primates.
Lynn, S.K., and I.M. Pepperberg. 2001. Culture: In the beak of the beholder? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24(2):341-342.
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