Orang-utans

Although they're not quite ready to guest-host the South Bank Show, it appears that our simian cousins are a well-cultured bunch. Read our web guide to find out more.

1. Orang-utans, one of the animal species thought to be closest to humans, are edging a little closer. According to new research they have what was previously thought to be a very human characteristic: culture.

2. Not in the sense of an evolved political system or the ability to represent themselves in art, but in the day-to-day things that one group of orang-utans does differently from its neighbours.

3. Orang-utan bands in Borneo and Sumatra both make kiss-like squeaking noises to communicate, but only in Borneo have they learned to cup their hands over their mouths to change the noise.

4. Meanwhile in Sumatra, one group uses leaves as gloves while handling prickly fruits, whereas another builds sunshades. There are other regional variations relating to eating habits, bedtime rituals and sexual practices.

5. Once it was just humans who were thought to have culture, then it was chimps, and now orang-utans.

6. The crucial thing is that these cultural conventions are passed down the generations as accumulated customs.

7. Except humans also write things down, and through greater mobility and commutations can spread knowledge between cultures.

8. But with our human cultures, we are pushing orang-utans to extinction. The UN's great apes survival project seeks to lift the threats faced by gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orang-utans.

9. Destruction of forest and bush - such as illegal logging in Indonesia - means that many of the studied ape cultures are dying out. In Africa, where the other great apes live, humans are making greater incursions into their habitat, and more of the animals are being eaten.

10. Though if apes do become extinct in the wild, it may be their cultural abilities that allow them to be bred in zoos and reintroduced into their old habitats. Scientists are studying chimp customs - such as cracking open nuts with stone tools - to teach future generations the essential survival skills developed by their ancestors.