Latest news with #Chimfunshi
CBC
3 days ago
- Science
- CBC
Chimps are sticking grass and sticks in their butts, seemingly as a fashion trend
A group of chimpanzees in Zambia have resurrected an old fashion trend with a surprising new twist. Fifteen years after a female chimpanzee named Julie first stuck a blade of grass into her ear and started a hot new craze among her cohort at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, an entirely new group of chimps at the refuge have started doing the same thing. "We were really shocked that this had happened again," Jake Brooker, a psychologist and great apes researcher at Durham University in England, told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. "We were even more shocked that they were doing their own spin on this by also inserting the grass and sticks in a different orifice." The chimps, he says, have been putting blades of grass and sticks into their ears and anuses, and simply letting them dangle there for no apparent reason. The study, published in the journal Behaviour last week, sheds new light on how social-cultural trends spread and change among our primate cousins, much like they do among humans. They learned it from us. Some of it, anyway In fact, the researchers suspect the chimps learned the behaviour from people — the ear part, that is. The two groups of chimps who display the behaviour don't have any contact with each other. But they do share some of the same human caretakers. And those caretakers, the study notes, reported that they sometimes use match sticks or blades of grass to clean their ears when working at the animal sanctuary. The chimps, Brooker says, "have potentially copied it from a human who was walking by the enclosure, or one of the caregivers who was just going about their daily lives." "Like with all cultures, things change over time and they get refined and new quirks and new traditions pop up," he said. Chimpanzee influencers In this case, the team traced the "new quirk" to a male chimp named Juma, who seems to have originated the grass-in-butt variation. From there, the study shows, it spread rapidly to most of his groupmates within a week. The same thing happened to Julie's group. She started putting grass in her ear in 2010, and pretty soon, seven other chimps were doing the same. The phenomenon even continued after Julie died in 2013. The researchers observed Julie's group again for this new study, and found that two chimps, including Julie's son, were still wearing grass in their ears. Much like humans, Brooker says the chimps appear to be willing to suffer for the sake of fashion. "You see when they're learning this behaviour that it's quite uncomfortable," he said of the ear grass. "They shake their head and they rub the ear a little bit as if they're trying to get used to it." Once they adjust, he says, they appear largely unbothered. He likened it to people getting their ears pierced. "There's not a clear benefit that wearing earrings really brings, but some kind of social cultural reason," he said. "I feel like it's similar with the grass in the ear." It's an apt comparison, says Julie Teichroeb, a primatologist at the University of Toronto who wasn't involved in the study. "It just looks like an earring, you know, like a fashionable way to present yourself," she said. 'They spend a lot of time looking at each other's butts' And as for Juma's grass-in-butt variation? Teichroeb says it's possible they're doing it to make themselves more attractive to potential mates. Females, in particular, she noted, display a swelling on their rear ends to indicate when they're receptive to a little hanky panky. "They spend a lot of time looking at each other's butts," she said. "So it's kind of not surprising maybe that they were innovating this way to sort of decorate their butts." Cultural differences are common among primates, and other animals too, but they often boil down to different methods of accessing food and other resources. Because the Chimfunshi chimps have human caretakers who feed them, Teichroeb says they may have more free time to develop purely social trends. "We think of, like silly, little pointless cultural ideas that spread amongst people," she said. "Learning that animals have these kinds of same, pointless little behaviours that become fads and become viral, I think it really shows how closely related we are to them, how much kinship we actually share." Brooker says it reminds him of the orcas who have recently been spotted wearing salmon on their heads like a hat — a behaviour last reported in the '70s. "It re-emerged 40 years later, like flared jeans," Brooker said. In that case, scientists also theorize the trend could be related to an abundance of food after many years of scarcity. Weird as this study was, Brooker says it's only the second most surprising behaviour he's observed in chimpanzees. The most surprising, he says, was when he happened upon two male chimps engaging in "."
CNN
3 days ago
- Science
- CNN
It's not just humans – chimpanzees also like to follow trends, study shows
Chimpanzees living in a sanctuary in Africa have developed a 'fashion trend' for dangling blades of grass or sticks from their ear holes and their behinds, a new study shows. In 2010, researchers working at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust chimpanzee sanctuary in Zambia observed how a female chimp started to dangle objects from her ear, and the behavior was soon copied by other members of her group, study lead author Ed van Leeuwen, an assistant professor of behavioural biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told CNN on Wednesday. There was no evidence that the chimpanzees were using the grass or sticks to deal with pain or itches, and they were 'very relaxed' when they did it, Van Leeuwen said. The behavior is more of a 'fashion trend or social tradition,' he added. Interestingly, chimpanzees in a different group at the sanctuary started demonstrating the same behavior more than a decade later, with some also inserting objects into their rectums. As this group lived around nine miles from the first group, they couldn't have copied it from them, prompting Van Leeuwen to ask whether the chimpanzees' caregivers could have influenced them. As it turns out, the staff in one area of the reserve had developed a habit of cleaning their ears with matchsticks or twigs, while those on the other side didn't. Van Leeuwen believes the behavior was picked up by chimpanzees from caregivers in the first area, before it was passed on to other members of their group. The caregivers then also influenced the behavior in the second group, which they were looking after years later, before this group also developed the practice of inserting sticks and grass into their rectums. 'This is a trend that goes viral by means of social learning,' he added. Van Leeuwen also cited the example of a group of chimpanzees at a zoo in the Netherlands in which one female started walking as if she were carrying a baby even though she wasn't. Soon, all of the females had adopted this walking style, he said. In addition, when two new females were brought into the group, the one that adopted the style swiftly was integrated quickly, whereas the one that refused to walk in the group style took longer to be accepted. Related video New video shows how chimpanzees may bond over 'boozy fruit' For Van Leeuwen, these behaviors are about fitting in and smoothing social relationships, just as with humans. The grass behavior was mostly observed at leisure time, when the chimpanzees congregate to groom and play. Living in the sanctuary, the chimpanzees don't have to worry about predators or competition with other groups, meaning they have more leisure time than their wild counterparts. 'They have a lot of time to just hang out,' said Van Leeuwens. Discover your world Go beyond the headlines and explore the latest scientific achievements and fascinating discoveries. Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Nonetheless, wild chimpanzees are probably capable of developing such behavior, he said, adding that it just might not have been documented yet. Next, Van Leeuwens plans to study whether chimpanzees can repeatedly innovate new foraging techniques, to examine whether they can develop cumulative culture in the same way as humans. Elodie Freymann, a post-doctoral affiliate at the University of Oxford's Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, who was not involved in the study, told CNN that these kinds of observations are key to advancing our understanding of the origins and transmission patterns of cultural behaviors in chimpanzees and other non-human animals. 'This study's finding that there may have been interspecies copying between chimps and their human caretakers is pretty mind blowing,' she said. 'If chimps can copy humans, could they be learning from and copying other non-human species as well? It's an exciting moment in primatology,' Freymann added.
CNN
4 days ago
- Science
- CNN
It's not just humans – chimpanzees also like to follow trends, study shows
Chimpanzees living in a sanctuary in Africa have developed a 'fashion trend' for dangling blades of grass or sticks from their ear holes and their behinds, a new study shows. In 2010, researchers working at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust chimpanzee sanctuary in Zambia observed how a female chimp started to dangle objects from her ear, and the behavior was soon copied by other members of her group, study lead author Ed van Leeuwen, an assistant professor of behavioural biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told CNN on Wednesday. There was no evidence that the chimpanzees were using the grass or sticks to deal with pain or itches, and they were 'very relaxed' when they did it, Van Leeuwen said. The behavior is more of a 'fashion trend or social tradition,' he added. Interestingly, chimpanzees in a different group at the sanctuary started demonstrating the same behavior more than a decade later, with some also inserting objects into their rectums. As this group lived around nine miles from the first group, they couldn't have copied it from them, prompting Van Leeuwen to ask whether the chimpanzees' caregivers could have influenced them. As it turns out, the staff in one area of the reserve had developed a habit of cleaning their ears with matchsticks or twigs, while those on the other side didn't. Van Leeuwen believes the behavior was picked up by chimpanzees from caregivers in the first area, before it was passed on to other members of their group. The caregivers then also influenced the behavior in the second group, which they were looking after years later, before this group also developed the practice of inserting sticks and grass into their rectums. 'This is a trend that goes viral by means of social learning,' he added. Van Leeuwen also cited the example of a group of chimpanzees at a zoo in the Netherlands in which one female started walking as if she were carrying a baby even though she wasn't. Soon, all of the females had adopted this walking style, he said. In addition, when two new females were brought into the group, the one that adopted the style swiftly was integrated quickly, whereas the one that refused to walk in the group style took longer to be accepted. Related video New video shows how chimpanzees may bond over 'boozy fruit' For Van Leeuwen, these behaviors are about fitting in and smoothing social relationships, just as with humans. The grass behavior was mostly observed at leisure time, when the chimpanzees congregate to groom and play. Living in the sanctuary, the chimpanzees don't have to worry about predators or competition with other groups, meaning they have more leisure time than their wild counterparts. 'They have a lot of time to just hang out,' said Van Leeuwens. Discover your world Go beyond the headlines and explore the latest scientific achievements and fascinating discoveries. Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Nonetheless, wild chimpanzees are probably capable of developing such behavior, he said, adding that it just might not have been documented yet. Next, Van Leeuwens plans to study whether chimpanzees can repeatedly innovate new foraging techniques, to examine whether they can develop cumulative culture in the same way as humans. Elodie Freymann, a post-doctoral affiliate at the University of Oxford's Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, who was not involved in the study, told CNN that these kinds of observations are key to advancing our understanding of the origins and transmission patterns of cultural behaviors in chimpanzees and other non-human animals. 'This study's finding that there may have been interspecies copying between chimps and their human caretakers is pretty mind blowing,' she said. 'If chimps can copy humans, could they be learning from and copying other non-human species as well? It's an exciting moment in primatology,' Freymann added.
CNN
4 days ago
- Science
- CNN
It's not just humans – chimpanzees also like to follow trends, study shows
Chimpanzees living in a sanctuary in Africa have developed a 'fashion trend' for dangling blades of grass or sticks from their ear holes and their behinds, a new study shows. In 2010, researchers working at Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust chimpanzee sanctuary in Zambia observed how a female chimp started to dangle objects from her ear, and the behavior was soon copied by other members of her group, study lead author Ed van Leeuwen, an assistant professor of behavioural biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told CNN on Wednesday. There was no evidence that the chimpanzees were using the grass or sticks to deal with pain or itches, and they were 'very relaxed' when they did it, Van Leeuwen said. The behavior is more of a 'fashion trend or social tradition,' he added. Interestingly, chimpanzees in a different group at the sanctuary started demonstrating the same behavior more than a decade later, with some also inserting objects into their rectums. As this group lived around nine miles from the first group, they couldn't have copied it from them, prompting Van Leeuwen to ask whether the chimpanzees' caregivers could have influenced them. As it turns out, the staff in one area of the reserve had developed a habit of cleaning their ears with matchsticks or twigs, while those on the other side didn't. Van Leeuwen believes the behavior was picked up by chimpanzees from caregivers in the first area, before it was passed on to other members of their group. The caregivers then also influenced the behavior in the second group, which they were looking after years later, before this group also developed the practice of inserting sticks and grass into their rectums. 'This is a trend that goes viral by means of social learning,' he added. Van Leeuwen also cited the example of a group of chimpanzees at a zoo in the Netherlands in which one female started walking as if she were carrying a baby even though she wasn't. Soon, all of the females had adopted this walking style, he said. In addition, when two new females were brought into the group, the one that adopted the style swiftly was integrated quickly, whereas the one that refused to walk in the group style took longer to be accepted. Related video New video shows how chimpanzees may bond over 'boozy fruit' For Van Leeuwen, these behaviors are about fitting in and smoothing social relationships, just as with humans. The grass behavior was mostly observed at leisure time, when the chimpanzees congregate to groom and play. Living in the sanctuary, the chimpanzees don't have to worry about predators or competition with other groups, meaning they have more leisure time than their wild counterparts. 'They have a lot of time to just hang out,' said Van Leeuwens. Discover your world Go beyond the headlines and explore the latest scientific achievements and fascinating discoveries. Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Nonetheless, wild chimpanzees are probably capable of developing such behavior, he said, adding that it just might not have been documented yet. Next, Van Leeuwens plans to study whether chimpanzees can repeatedly innovate new foraging techniques, to examine whether they can develop cumulative culture in the same way as humans. Elodie Freymann, a post-doctoral affiliate at the University of Oxford's Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, who was not involved in the study, told CNN that these kinds of observations are key to advancing our understanding of the origins and transmission patterns of cultural behaviors in chimpanzees and other non-human animals. 'This study's finding that there may have been interspecies copying between chimps and their human caretakers is pretty mind blowing,' she said. 'If chimps can copy humans, could they be learning from and copying other non-human species as well? It's an exciting moment in primatology,' Freymann added.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Science
- BBC News
Chimpanzees follow trends just like we do
Humans copy each other with fashion fads and crazes all the time, and it turns out some chimps do too. The latest fashion trend for a group of chimpanzees in Zambia? Sticking grass in their ears. Fierce!Scientists from the University of Durham observed the primates copying each other, and saw the trend growing, despite it seemingly serving absolutely no purpose - other than to look super stylish of course. The team say it shows our closest relatives have even more human-like culture than we first thought. It's not the first time this kind of behaviour has been seen in chimpanzees at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust. Over 10 years ago researchers saw a female chimp from a completely different group start wearing grass in her ear and one by one, others adopted the trend. It's very similar to how fashions and trends emerge in humans. Dr Jake Brooker from Durham University, said: "This isn't about cracking nuts or fishing for termites – it's more like chimpanzee fashion."It mirrors how human cultural fads spread: someone starts doing something, others copy it, and it becomes part of the group identity even if it serves no clear purpose."
