Bumblebees and chimpanzees learn to perform complex tasks by observing their peers. Results suggest complex knowledge that they could hardly acquire on their own is also transmitted among members of these species.
Acquiring a new skill by observing other individuals is known as social learning. As an example of what a cumulative knowledge means, Professor Lars Chittka, co-author of the study, invites us to think about a group of children abandoned on a desert island: "With a little luck they could survive, but they would never learn to read or write"