Chimpanzees share many similarities with humans, yet they seem to lack altruism. Although they live in groups, cooperate, and hunt together, they display selfish behavior when it comes to helping members outside their own kin.
When given the choice to help themselves or other chimpanzees, they often choose the selfish option, scientists report.
“This is the first experiment showing that chimpanzees do not exhibit concern for the welfare of others in the same way humans do—humans who may donate blood, volunteer for military service, and perform other acts beneficial to complete strangers,” said Professor Joan Silk, an American anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
To test the altruism of chimpanzees, Silk and her colleagues studied the behavior of two separate groups of chimpanzees in a controlled environment.
The experiment was conducted as follows: one group of chimpanzees stood on one side of a window where they could pull a handle that would either bring food to themselves or send a similar reward to a chimpanzee in another room on the opposite side of the window. Both groups of unfamiliar chimpanzees behaved identically, choosing to retrieve the food for themselves rather than sharing it with others.
Scientists noted that chimpanzees appeared not to understand that they could send food to the other room.
“However, the chimpanzee waiting on the other side occasionally displayed begging gestures, indicating that at least they understood the role of others in bringing rewards to them,” Silk stated.
T. An (according to Reuters)
