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Chimpanzees 'capable of altruism'

Wednesday 27 June, 2007

Chimpanzees possess the ability to display acts of altruism, it has been claimed.

According to the results of a recent study, the participating primates displayed a willingness to help total strangers by retrieving pens that they had dropped, providing the individual was making an effort to retrieve the object for themselves.

In a previous study the same result occurred, although individuals known to the chimpanzees participated in the study.

"We were quite impressed by the fact that the chimpanzees were able to help in a novel situation," said Felix Warneken, one of the researchers involved with the study.

"They clearly seemed to be motivated by the other person's unachieved goal and not an immediate benefit for themselves," he added.

Mr Warneken conducted the study in partnership with Brian Hare at Uganda's Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary.

The term chimpanzee can be used in reference to two species within the Pan genus, the Common Chimpanzee and the Bonobo.

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