Altruism Lacking In Chimps

hmmm - they're more human than thought...


http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2005-10-27T103912Z_01_MCC661223_RTRUKOC_0_US-SCIENCE-CHIMPANZEES.xml&archived=False

LONDON (Reuters) - Chimpanzees share many traits with humans but
altruism, it seems, is not one of them, scientists said on Wednesday.

Although chimps live in social groups and co-operate and hunt together,
when it comes to helping non-related group members, they don't put up
with any monkey business.

When given the opportunity to help themselves and other chimps they
often choose the selfish option.

"This is the first experiment to show that chimps don't share the same
concern for the welfare of others as do humans, who routinely donate
blood ... volunteer for military duty and perform other acts that
benefit perfect strangers," said Joan Silk, an anthropologist at UCLA
in the United States.

To test how altruistic chimps are, Silk and researchers from Emory
University, the University of Texas and the University of Louisiana
studied the behavior of two separate groups of chimps in captivity.

They devised an experiment in which chimps on one side of a window could
pull a handle to provide a tray of food for themselves or to also give
the same reward to a monkey in another room on the opposite side of the
window.

Both groups of unrelated chimpanzees behaved in a similar way. They
decided to reward themselves but not others, according to the research
reported in the science journal Nature.

The scientists said it is possible that the chimps did not understand
they could deliver food to the other room.

"Yet, potential recipients sometimes displayed begging gestures,
suggesting that at least they had some understanding of the other's role
in delivering reward to them," Silk said in a statement.

"Nevertheless, chimpanzees were clearly motivated to obtain rewards for
themselves, but not to provide rewards for other group members."
.

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