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CronoDAS comments on Open Thread: May 2010 - Less Wrong
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One major difference between humans and apes is this:
Humans teach each other. When we discover something new, we immediately go and tell everybody. Apes don't. If an ape discovers something, it doesn't spread to the other members of its social group until they happen to watch the ape using its discovery. And apes that are taught sign language don't pass it on to their children.
Which means apes don't get the benefit of cultural evolution (or gene-culture co-evolution). I wonder if that was a key barrier to the development of ape culture.
Hm, I thought I had a counterexample, but it looks like it was just a case of learning by imitation. Also, vervet monkeys teach their proto-language (of "eagles!", "snakes!", and "leopards!") to their young by smacking them when they give the wrong call.
As for other mammals, there are cases of them teaching each other when they learn something new, for example when an elephant learned how to unlock her cage.