(Offtopic:) Why do you think apes lack some kind of culture? I wonder how was the studies controlled for that.
I don't think apes culture-free. I suspect ape culture is highly unlikely to have gendering of wheeled toys. Mostly because that requires the discovery/invention of wheels and so on, which ape cultures outside our own have largely not managed.
Re:No Longer an Inspiration
by nerfhammer on Wednesday April 15, 2015 @09:36PM
(#9385412)
It's reliable across different populations and has been demonstrated in monkeys (non-apes), for which the existence of culture may be more more doubtful.
It's pretty easy to replicate, here's an example:
Bear in mind that there are studies in apes demonstrating preferences in toys that mirror what is widely assumed to be purely cultural influences in humans.