Chimpanzees may Have Learned to Make Friends 6 Mln Yrs Ago

The ability to form friendship with people like oneself was there in ancestors of chimpanzees and humans, finds a new research.

Co-author Sonja Koski of the University of Zurich told Discovery News that the ancestors learned most survival skills and knowledge socially, which gave rise to the possibility of cultural differences in behaviour between populations.

Chimpanzees Play the Ultimatum Game
At the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, researchers are the first to show chimpanzees possess a sense of fairness that has previously been attributed as uniquely human.

She said that the groups had many males and females, and individuals started forming co-operative friendships.

Koski and co-author Jorg Massen of the University of Vienna found that chimpanzee buddies are similar to human friends in the sense that both need emotionally rewarding, positive interactions with friends, and these connections result in durable and mutually beneficial bonds.

The authors also said that chimp friendships, like human ones, can last for a very long time.

Chimpanzees Use Hand Gestures Similar to Humans to Communicate With Each Other
Researchers at Stirling University revealed that the apes communicate with each other through gestures similar to those used by humans.

They first investigated the personality similarity of pals among 38 chimpanzees in captivity and concluded that chimps were likelier to be pals if they possessed similar tendencies for sociability and boldness.

A basic form of bonding may go beyond common ancestor of chimps and humans, about as far back as 36 million years ago when the earliest socially living primates evolved.

Study Finds Children Prefer Teamwork, but Chimpanzees Don't
Children actively chose to work together when given the option, while our close relative the chimpanzee has no such preference, says a new study.

Source-ANI

Both Chimpanzees And Humans Are Born With Immature Forebrains
A study has stated that the portions of the brain that are critical for complex cognitive functions, including decision-making, self-awareness and creativity, are immature at birth