Research find chimpanzees help each other in times of need

[NNN0LHI]

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120207_05.html

Researchers at Kyoto University have determined for the first time in the world that chimpanzees, like humans, would help each other in times of need.

A group of scientists at the university's Primate Research Institute put 2 chimpanzees in 2 adjacent booths. One of them was given several tools. They created a situation in which other chimp could only drink using certain tools.

In one scenario, a glass of juice was fastened to the wall. The animal could only drink by using a straw. The wall dividing the booths became transparent and the 2 apes could see each other. The one that had the tools chose a straw and gave it to the other to use. snip

The results will be published on Tuesday in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Tuesday, February 07, 2012 06:32 +0900 (JST)

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[Bonobo]

2. And bonobos even more so!

[zazen]

6. is she studying the wallpaper?

The picture is sweet, but I wonder if they mirror humans in more ways than we'd like to imagine.

[Bonobo]

7. LOL! nt

[baldguy]

3. So, what happened to Republicans?

Are they missing a gene? Are they devolving?

[JHB]

4. You can't tell by the wings?

[renie408]

5. Tit for tat. We are studying this in Behavioral Biology.

I homeshool my 16 yr old daughter and this year we are studying various fields in biology. We are currently working through a series of videos from Stanford on Human Behavioral Biology and the 'tit for tat' strategy was just discussed. It is a great series and the professor is wonderful. If anyone is interested, here is a link:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL848F2368C90DDC3D