Chimpanzees steal less pineapple from their friends
How likely is a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) to steal food from another chimp? It depends on whether they’re a friend or a foe. A team of biologists discovered that chimps pilfer less from their friends, and that the relationship between the victim and the thief influenced the emotional display of both parties. The findings are described in a study recently published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior. The team conducted experiments with chimpanzees from Uganda’s Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary. But first, they had to figure out who was “friends” with whom. Scientists sometimes avoid describing a seemingly close relationship between chimps as similar to human friendship. According to study co-author and University of California, Berkeley Oded Ritov, we can’t truly understand their cognitive and emotional complexity, and we run this risk of putting our human ideas and emotions onto other species. But we are starting to see that animals also form friendships. To identify apparently close relationships, the team observed 26 chimpanzees at the sanctuary for over 800 hours. They noticed grooming patterns, daily interactions, …
