So rank means different things in different species. It turns out that rank can also mean different things in different social groups within the same species. Primatologists these days talk about primate “culture,” and this is not an anthropomorphic term. For example, chimps in one part of the rain forest can have a very different culture from the folks four valleys over—different frequencies of social behaviors, use of similar vocalizations but with different meanings (in other words, something approaching the concept of a “dialect”), different types of tool use. And intergroup differences
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