Chimpanzees living in the African temple have created a “fashion trend” for hanging grass blades or sticks from the ears and behind the back, a new study shows.
2010 In Zambia, the Chimfunshi Wild Nature Orphan Shrine in Zambia, a woman’s chimpanzee began hanging objects from her ear, and her behavior was soon copied by other members of her group, studying main author Ed Van Leeuwen, Wednesday, Utrecht University at Utrecht University.
There was no evidence that chimpanzees use grass or sticks to deal with pain or itching, and when they did, they were “very relaxed,” said Van Leeuwen.
Behavior is more of a “fashion trend or social tradition,” he added.
Aimi, a woman chimpanzee, wearing a stick in the ear – Jake Brooker/Chimfunshi wildlife orphan’s confidence
Interestingly, chimpanzees in another temple group began to demonstrate the same behavior more than a decade later, some also inserted objects into their rectum.
Because this group lived about nine miles from the first group, they could not copy it from them, encouraging Van Leeuwen to ask whether chimpanzees could have influenced them.
As it turns out, the staff in one area of the reserve gained the habit of cleaning their ears or twigs, and those who were on the other side were not.
Van Leeuwen believes that behavior in the first area has been chosen by chimpanzees from guardians, before passing on to other members of their group.
Then the caregivers also influenced the behavior of the second group, which they looked after a year later, before this group also created the insertion of sticks and grass into a straight practice.
“This is a trend that turns into viral social learning,” he added.
An adult male chimpanzee is characterized by the same behavior in a wooded shrine for the large monkeys saved. – Jake Brooker/Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphan’s Trust
Van Leeuwen also mentioned the example of a group of chimpanzees at the zoo in the Netherlands, where one woman started walking as if she were carrying a baby, though not.
Soon, all women accepted this walking style, he said. In addition, when two new women were brought to the group, the one who quickly accepted the style was quickly integrated, and the one who refused to walk in the band’s style accepted longer.
For Van Leeuwen, this behavior is associated with the application and leveling of social relations, as with people.
The behavior of the grass was mostly observed in leisure when chimpanzees gather for seduction and play.
While living in the shrine, chimpanzees must not worry about predators or competition with other groups, which means they have more leisure time than their wild colleagues.
“They have a lot of time just to stay,” said Van Leeuwens.
Nevertheless, wild chimpanzees are probably able to develop such behavior, he said, adding that this may not have been documented yet.
Van Leeuwens then plans to investigate whether chimpanzees can re -implement new new feed methods to investigate whether they can develop a cumulative culture just like humans.
Elodie Fremann, a post -industry, CNN, said that these observations are key to improving our understanding of cultural behavior and other non -human animals.
“The findings of this study that it may have been that there may be differences between chimpanzees and their caretakers,” she said.
“If chimpanzees can copy people, can they learn from other inhuman species and copy? This is an exciting moment of primatology,” Fremann added.
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