Not sure why I didn't think of this before - but learned behavior transmitted from generation-to-generation is "culture", (though some would argue this is too simplistic a definition).
Most of the work regarding culture in animals has been done in primates - the classic example is of a Japanese macaque who learned that potatoes (introduced by researchers) tasted better washed and seasoned in the ocean, and then passed the knowledge through her colony, with the behavior spreading along preexisting social lines.
The most comprehensive chimp culture study:
Nature. 1999 Jun 17;399(6737):682-5.
Comment in:
Nature. 1999 Jun 17;399(6737):635-6.
Nature. 2001 Jan 4;409(6816):12.
Cultures in chimpanzees.
Whiten A, Goodall J, McGrew WC, Nishida T, Reynolds V, Sugiyama Y, Tutin CE, Wrangham RW, Boesch C.
Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, UK.
As an increasing number of field studies of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have achieved long-term status across Africa, differences in the behavioural repertoires described have become apparent that suggest there is significant cultural variation. Here we present a systematic synthesis of this information from the seven most long-term studies, which together have accumulated 151 years of chimpanzee observation. This comprehensive analysis reveals patterns of variation that are far more extensive than have previously been documented for any animal species except humans. We find that 39 different behaviour patterns, including tool usage, grooming and courtship behaviours, are customary or habitual in some communities but are absent in others where ecological explanations have been discounted. Among mammalian and avian species, cultural variation has previously been identified only for single behaviour patterns, such as the local dialects of song-birds. The extensive, multiple variations now documented for chimpanzees are thus without parallel. Moreover, the combined repertoire of these behaviour patterns in each chimpanzee community is itself highly distinctive, a phenomenon characteristic of human cultures but previously unrecognised in non-human species.
On chimp tool use to crack nuts (you may find particularly interesting since it literally requires years of learning and practice with elders):
Anim Cogn. 2003 Dec;6(4):213-23. Epub 2003 Jul 29.
Cultural innovation and transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees: evidence from field experiments.
Biro D, Inoue-Nakamura N, Tonooka R, Yamakoshi G, Sousa C, Matsuzawa T.
Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan. dora.biro@zoology.oxford.ac.uk
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are the most proficient and versatile users of tools in the wild. How such skills become integrated into the behavioural repertoire of wild chimpanzee communities is investigated here by drawing together evidence from three complementary approaches in a group of oil-palm nut- ( Elaeis guineensis) cracking chimpanzees at Bossou, Guinea. First, extensive surveys of communities adjacent to Bossou have shown that population-specific details of tool use, such as the selection of species of nuts as targets for cracking, cannot be explained purely on the basis of ecological differences. Second, a 16-year longitudinal record tracing the development of nut-cracking in individual chimpanzees has highlighted the importance of a critical period for learning (3-5 years of age), while the similar learning contexts experienced by siblings have been found to result in near-perfect (13 out of 14 dyads) inter-sibling correspondence in laterality. Third, novel data from field experiments involving the introduction of unfamiliar species of nuts to the Bossou group illuminates key aspects of both cultural innovation and transmission. We show that responses of individuals toward the novel items differ markedly with age, with juveniles being the most likely to explore. Furthermore, subjects are highly specific in their selection of conspecifics as models for observation, attending to the nut-cracking activities of individuals in the same age group or older, but not younger than themselves. Together with the phenomenon of inter-community migration, these results demonstrate a mechanism for the emergence of culture in wild chimpanzees.
On culture in orangs (once thought improbable due to their fairly solitary life-style):
Science. 2003 Jan 3;299(5603):102-5.
Comment in:
Science. 2003 Jan 3;299(5603):27-8.
Orangutan cultures and the evolution of material culture.
van Schaik CP, Ancrenaz M, Borgen G, Galdikas B, Knott CD, Singleton I, Suzuki A, Utami SS, Merrill M.
Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, Duke University, Post Office Box 90383, Durham, NC 27708, USA. vschaik@duke.edu
Geographic variation in some aspects of chimpanzee behavior has been interpreted as evidence for culture. Here we document similar geographic variation in orangutan behaviors. Moreover, as expected under a cultural interpretation, we find a correlation between geographic distance and cultural difference, a correlation between the abundance of opportunities for social learning and the size of the local cultural repertoire, and no effect of habitat on the content of culture. Hence, great-ape cultures exist, and may have done so for at least 14 million years.
Are primates to close to humans for your interests?
Although, I am more searching for links between behaviour and genes. It's that interesting for me, because it somewhat hardwires 'instinct', what is quite easy to accept as fact, but fascinating in regard to 'how' and 'what'.
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