Culture unique to man 1-2 language, learning, symbols, institutions, tools, material culture

In the past, it was believed,there was many differences between humans and animals but now that list is shrinking.

Primates and non primate species can construct and use tools. McGrew 1992.Non human species have a sense of self. Gallup 1970.Presence of theory of mind. Individual knows that other individuals have different information than one self. Tomasello and Call 1997.Other species can communicate. Like Vervet monkeys. And can also fall into depression. Jane Goodall 1986.

Material culture. Chimpanzees constructing termite sticks. Goodall 1986. Chimpanzees also use hammer. use leaves to clean themselves with water.

West African ales used nut hammering whereas East African apes use leaves. This variation across chimpanzee populations regarding tool used and construction was found to constitut Culture by Whiten 1999.

Social custom. In Tanzania there is unique occurrence of "hand-clasp" grooming - where is animal raises and ARM grasping hands with the other. Different groups showing different technique. Nakamura 2004.

Raindance Sushil custom reported by Jane goodall 1986. not biological because it is only seen in East African populations and not in West Africa.

As Dr noam chomsky has said. Human language - huge part of culture - is infinite and discrete where as every other animal communication is finite and continuous. Human language is not just mode of communication but a vehicle of thought.

Animals can learn from each other by observing and copying for example chimpanzees. Whiten 1998. But suggestions of teaching are controversial/ not accepted. deWaal 2001. Multigenerational transmission of culture is rare.

According to genetics, there is not much that makes us human; depending on how you count, we share 98.5 per cent of our genes with chimpanzees. Perhaps this is not such a significant matter, given that we also share about 60 per cent of our genes with tomatoes.

 So what does make us human? It is not that we live in social groups: ants, antelopes and sparrows do the same. It is not that we have nuanced emotional lives: so do dogs and baboons. It is not even that we have language, for other things – including trees, as it happens – have communication systems, too, and it might be that some of those systems are quite complex, as appears to be the case with dolphins, for example.

When we think of culture we naturally think of the arts and education along with science, and these are all the true marks of humanity at its best. Both science and the arts express the inventiveness of the human mind, but the arts capture its playfulness, too, and its desire to take the one great step that leads us even beyond knowledge: the step to understanding

This is the self-reflexiveness of the human mind, the ability to look at itself and to put itself into the context of everything it interacts with. Chimps and dolphins can recognise themselves in mirrors, and therefore have a degree of self-reflexive awareness – but it is hard to find anywhere else in nature the sheer scale and elaboration of the human mind’s response to things. The expression of that response is culture, and as the distinguishing mark of humanity, culture exemplifies what other animals lack – adaptiveness, progression, change and diversity in behaviour and activity.

Human culture has a destructive side also.. materialism, climate change etc...Even animals have it like territorial aggression, killing of cubs in lions. The difference is that humans can overcome their negative side by positive cultural interventions but animals cannot

This is a the uniqueness of human culture making humans unique.