Scientists have discovered that young chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) play with toys in a similar manner to human children.
US researchers found that juvenile wild chimpanzees living in Uganda's Kibale National Park, play with sticks like children play with dolls, cradling them and even making nests for them to sleep in at night. Doll-making is more common in females, showing paralels with the behaviour of young humans. The chimps learn the behaviour by copying other juveniles. One of the scientists, Richard Wrangham, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, said: "What we've got here is evidence that without any kind of socialisation by adults, females seem to be predisposed to react to sticks as though they were dolls." This could reflect more female interest in infant care and playing at mothering. Wrangham’s colleague Sonya Kahlenberg, continued: "Stick carrying may be practice for the adult role of motherhood", "perhaps similar to functions of other kinds of play, being practice for adult roles."
HumanKind, ChimpanzeeKind, We’re all OneKind.
Humans share 98.4% of our DNA with chimpanzees. We are of course physically very alike and the more we learn about them the more we are becoming aware that our behaviour is also very similar. We’re not that different. It's little wonder that people are increasingy questioning keeping our closest living relatives in zoos and using them in laboratory experiments. I wonder how history will judge our current behaviour.
Many animals use tools
The chimps being studied were using the sticks as toys – a kind of tool use. For many years it was thought that only humans used objects as tools. This misconception was corrected when primatologist Jane Goodall first reported that chimps used tools. It is now known that many kinds of animals use tools.
These include crows, dolphins and - of course - primates such as chimpanzees. Some animals such as sea otters have a favourite tool that they carry about with them. Others find nearby articles such as stones, twigs or thorns, which they use and then discard. Advanced use comes about when tools are used in combination, as when chimps use both a hammer and an anvil to crack open kernels.
Increased respect for other animals
The more we watch and learn about other animals the more we become aware of their intelligence and their fascinating and often complex behaviour that clearly must involve thoughts and feelings. Findings such as the similar ways young female humans and chimpanzees play with ‘dolls’ must surely increase our empathy and respect for the other sentient animals with which we share this planet. The challenge then is for us to reflect this increased respect in more compassionate behaviour.