Bumblebees and chimpanzees can learn skills from their peers. The ability was previously considered unique to the human species.
Scientists do not exclude not that these faculties can also emerge spontaneously, via the existence of a “latent solution zone” in the brain. The evolution of human culture is based in part on the accumulation of innovations and their transmission via social learning, says Lars Chittka, professor of ethology at Queen Mary University of London and co-author of a Nature study.