Chimpanzees can learn and transmit new habits

The observation of wild chimpanzees in Africa has long proved that all chimpanzee communities do not have the same behavioral practices. All do not use the same tools that these practices are transmitted from generation to generation in each group.

Due to being unable to observe in nature, primates have taught new habits for captive chimpanzees to learn the ability to pass on new things to learn. Two trials were conducted in parallel at two US research centers of Emory University and the University of Texas.

At Yerkes Center at Emory University, Dr. Frans de Waal and his colleagues taught chimpanzees new habits such as putting cards in a tube to receive food. In the two groups of chimpanzees involved in the experiment, the methods chosen by chimpanzees have been imitated by other chimpanzees and become local ' practices '. At the University of Texas, many new habits have been passed from group to group through observation.

According to the researchers, the ability to learn and communicate to each other allows chimpanzees to adapt more quickly to the environment than genetic evolution.

VN