Tag: Chimpanzee Behavior

The more anthropologists study our closest relatives the more like us they seem to behave, and the more we learn about ourselves.

It was only a little more than fifty years ago that the world was astounded by the discoveries of Jane Goodall as she described the normal, day-to-day behavior of Chimpanzees. By simply monitoring the same group of chimpanzees for such a long period of time that they ceased to pay any attention to her Goodall was able to observe behavior in them that previously was considered to be purely ‘human’. Tool use, hunting in groups for small animal prey and even murder were among the most notable of her discoveries.

Jane Goodall succeeded in learning secrets about the behavior of Chimpanzees be getting up close and personal over a long period of time! (Credit: Pro Well technology)

Since that time other researchers have uncovered further aspects of chimpanzee behavior, even the astounding fact that large populations of chimpanzees in different parts of Africa display different behaviors, the rudimentary beginnings of culture, even ethnicity. All of these studies have one thing in common, the more we learn about our closest relatives the more human they seem.

Anthropologists are recognizing different behaviors and even different material use in six different populations of chimpanzees. Are we seeing the beginnings of ethnic culture? (Credit: Nature)

Now two new studies have added further evidence in support of that thesis. The first concerns social interactions between two chimpanzees or two bonobos, a closely related species often mistaken for chimps.

There is still some debate as to whether Bonobos are a separate species or a subspecies of Chimpanzees. The consensus at present is a separate species but that brings up the whole question of just exactly how to define a species. (Credit: San Diego Zoo Kids)

Whenever two humans meet it is customary for them to exchange greetings, “Hi, how are you doing.” being typical. The strange thing is that the better two individuals know each the shorter the time required for the greeting. Think about it, if you run into a business acquaintance that you haven’t seen in over a year you spend a few minutes getting re-acquainted before getting down to business. On the other hand when you get together for dinner with your best friend who you just saw last week it’s “Hey man, good to see you…where should we eat?” The two of you know each other so well that you don’t have to get re-acquainted, you can get right down to the purpose of the meeting.

Chimpanzees and Bonobos both perform a series of behaviors when starting and closing an interaction with another individual. (Credit: Psychology Today)

The same happens at the end of the get together. When the meeting is over with that business associate you see once or twice a year you make plans to keep in touch, maybe even arrange the next meeting. When you and your best friend say goodbye it can be a short as ‘See ya around.” Anthropologists refer to these greetings and goodbyes as Entry and Exit phases of a social interaction and together represent a Joint Commitment to the social interaction. 

We humans also have our own ritual greetings at the start of any interaction. Turns out our relatives are a lot like us! (Credit: The New York Times)

Now a group of researchers at the Institute of Work and Organizational Psychology at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland and eight other institutes has published a paper in the journal iScience where they present evidence of very similar conduct in both chimps and bonobos. The observed behaviors include such actions as eye contact and non-verbal signals both prior to and at the end of some joint activity such as mutual grooming or play.

Chimps and other great Apes love to groom each other but first they have to mutually agree to the time spent together by means of an entry greeting. (Credit: ZME Science)

Bonobos in particular exhibited the human like behavior; even to the extent that the observed greetings and farewells are shorter for very well acquainted individuals, again just as in humans. One interesting observation made in both species is that the social rank of the individuals involved, such as the alpha male, appeared to play no role in the coordinated joint action phases.

So it seems as if our relatives share much of our behavior when interacting on a one on one basis. A second recent study gives evidence that they also act in very human like ways when in larger groups.

Once again it was Jane Goodall who first observed the chimpanzees of the group she was studying carry out what could only be described as an act of war against a neighboring group. What she described was that the alpha male of her group first gathered together all of the other males. The males then quietly and stealthily entered the territory of a neighboring group where, after a period of time in hiding they ambushed a juvenal male of the neighboring group, killing him without mercy.

Perhaps another similar behavior Chimps have with us is rebelling against authority. The dead Chimp in the middle was the former Alpha Male of the group that just killed him! (Credit: New Scientist)

Now biologists at the Loango National Park in Gabon have witnessed two inter-species battles between groups of chimpanzees and gorillas. In each incident the chimpanzees both outnumbered the gorillas and seemed to have instigated the conflict. Also, in both incidents a young gorilla was killed.

The first war between two groups of Chimpanzees was witnessed back in 1974 and lasted four years. The new evidence of fighting between Chimps and Gorillas just demonstrates how much like us they are. (Credit: Fact Republic)

The first incident occurred in February of 2019 and took place when a group of 18 chimpanzees were returning to their territory from a foraging excursion. The chimps came upon five gorillas, only one of which was a male and immediately became aggressive. In a battle that lasted nearly an hour an infant gorilla was separated from its mother and killed.

The second battle happened in December and was even larger with 27 chimpanzees attacking seven gorillas for well over an hour. Again a baby gorilla was stolen from its mother and killed and this time the murdered infant was actually eaten by the triumphant chimps.

Under threat from humans throughout Africa it appears that Gorillas are even threatened by Chimpanzees. (Credit: Windy City Travel)

It is not known how often such conflicts take place between chimps and gorillas, or what the reasons for the battles were. Both chimpanzees and gorillas are very difficult to keep under observation. The naturalists at Loango Park have noted however that both incidents occurred during the season when supplies of fruit are low so the fights may have been over resources.

Loango National Park in Gabon. (Credit: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)

Nevertheless the episodes do illustrate just how remarkable the resemblance is between the behaviors of ourselves and our closest relatives. Whether that be for good or ill.

National Geographic Documentary: ‘Jane’, a biography of Jane Goodall.

A week ago, 12 Mar 2018, the National Geographic Channel broadcast a documentary that it had produced about the life and work of the World renowned naturalist Jane Goodall. Directed by Brett Morgen the film consists of an interview of Jane Goodall as a voice over for footage of her throughout the career. Much of the film used was derived from more than 100 hours of previously unreleased footage taken by Hugo van Lawick, Jane’s longtime collaborator and husband. The image below shows Goodall and van Lawick together with their son Hugo, nicknamed Grub.

Jane Goodall with Hugo van Lawick and son Hugo (Credit: The Times)

Now everybody knows that Jane Goodall has revolutionized our views of mankind’s closest relations in the natural world the chimpanzees by her intimate and long term observations of a group of chimps who resided in Gombe national forest in Tanzania. What few people know however is that Jane was initially sent to Gombe by the noted paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey as a part of his study of early human evolution. You see Leakey believed that the closest we could come to being able to study the behavior of our ancestors of two or three million years ago would be to study our closest surviving relatives the chimpanzees. The image below shows Louis and Mary Leakey with their most famous find the skull of the early hominid Zinjanthropus.

Louis and Mark Leakey with Zinjanthropus (Credit: History Channel)

Leakey distrusted the prevailing theories about human evolution, indeed even in the 1960s there were still anthropologists who believed that humans had originated not in Africa but in central Asia despite there being absolutely no evidence to support this hypothesis. So for the job of observing chimpanzees Leakey choose his young English secretary, a woman with no university degree but who did love animals. He choose Jane Goodall.

The best part of the documentary was in fact Jane talking about her first months in Gombe. Leakey had been able to secure only enough money for Goodall to spend six months studying the chimpanzees there and any more money, and time for further study would depend on what, if anything she could discover about chimp behavior.

Upon arriving in Gombe Jane was immediately in her element. She genuinely did love animals and the outdoors and she was very happy spending her days walking around and observing the Tanzanian forests. Trouble was that she may have loved being with the chimps but they certainly didn’t return that love, not at first.

For the first five months Jane could only study her subjects from afar, the chimps ran off any time she tried to get close. By binoculars and telescope she was learning some interesting details of chimp behavior but nothing Earth shattering. Jane was quite concerned that her money would run out before she could get a real close-up look in the private lives of chimpanzees. (How many scientific discoveries do you think have been lost because of a lack of money???)

Then one day an older male chimp whom Jane had named David Graybeard did not flee as she came closer. In a breakthrough that lasted several hours she watched David Graybeard from a distance of only a few meters. Within days the entire troop had ceased to be afraid of her and Jane was able observe her subjects as close up as she desired.

It was also the male David Graybeard who gave Jane her first major discovery. One day she watched in astonishment as the chimp took a thin reed and, licking it first, he shoved it down a hole into a termite mound and when he pulled it out he gobbled up the termites that clung to it. The image below shows a chimpanzee using a reed as a tool.

Young Chimpanzee ‘Fishing’ for termites (Credit: BBC)

At that time no one thought chimps used tools but there he was, using that reed as a tool to obtain some necessary protein for his diet. A few days later Jane watched as several of the chimps not only used reeds and twigs to pull out some termites but were actually altering their twigs, stripping off the leaves in order to make them thinner and pointier. They were modifying if not making tools. This was the discovery Jane needed and when she announced her find the National Geographic Society, which had supported Leakey for many years, gave her all the money she required to continue her work.

There was one catch, the Geographic wanted a professional nature photographer to come and document her work. The man they sent was Hugo van Lawick who would become Goodall’s husband as well as chronicler.

In the years that followed Jane made other important discoveries. She watched as the male chimps hunted small monkeys for food, they actually succeed a higher percentage of the time than lions do. She also observed our relatives as they committed murder, even fights between groups that can only be described as wars.

In all Jane Goodall discovered that chimpanzees are very much like us. They can be tender and nurturing, Jane says she learned a lot about being a mother from a female chimp named Flo. Yet at the same time they can be viscous and brutal. All in all their behavior is not very different from our own.

No one can doubt that Louis Leakey made a terrific choice in selecting Jane Goodall to carry out a study of our relatives the chimpanzees. And you’ll be making a terrific choice if you take some time to watch The National Geographic Channel’s documentary ‘Jane’!