Chimpanzee

When they are given the opportunity to help themselves or other chimpanzees, they often choose to be selfish, scientists report.

"This is the first experiment to show that chimpanzees have no concern about the welfare of others like humans - those who can donate blood, voluntarily perform military service and take other actions. for the complete stranger, "said Joan Silk, an American anthropologist at the University of Los Angeles, California.

To test the altruism of chimpanzees, Silk and colleagues studied the behavior of two separate chimpanzees in the cage.

The experiment is as follows: a chimp group standing on one side of the window can pull a handle, from which the handle will carry a tray of food for them, or take a similar reward to a monkey in another room on the other side of the window. Both unknown groups of chimpanzees behave exactly the same. They decided to take the tray of food on their side, not for others.

Scientists say chimps don't seem to understand that they can take food to another room.

" However, the monkey waiting on the other side sometimes shows a gesture of asking, showing that at least they understand the role of others in bringing rewards to themselves ," Silk said.

T. An ( according to Reuters )