Chimpanzees and children: Social curiosity combines our worlds!

Chimpanzees and children: Social curiosity combines our worlds!

chimpanzees show a remarkable social curiosity that has surprising similarities to human behavior. In a recent study, their preferences for social interactions were examined, and the results are fascinating: chimpanzees, similar to children, show great interest in relationships, conflicts and dramas within their social group. This was published by an international research team led by Laura Lewis from the University of California in the journal "Proceedings of the Royal Society B". The study comprised 27 chimpanzees and 30 children between the ages of four and six, who saw themselves in various experiments videos that showed social interactions or single individuals. Both groups preferred the videos with social content about those without social dynamics, which indicates a deeply rooted social curiosity that promotes living together in groups and develops social bonds. Tagesspiegel reports that the examination of the chimpanzees for drama shows.

It is particularly interesting that male chimpanzees, which are more often involved in conflicts, show more interest in these social dynamics than female chimpanzees, which mostly avoid such clashes. Therefore, gender -specific differences in social curiosity and playing behavior when learning social skills could play a role in chimpanzees. Younger children showed similar preferences, with boys increasingly developing more interest in negative social interactions and girls preferred positive scenes. These observations suggest that social curiosity develops in early childhood and shares with the behavior of chimpanzees. geo adds that this findings indicate how densely the emotional and social development of schimpansen and humans is interwoven.

social interactions and their meaning

research results show that the game behavior of chimpanzees has a positive effect on their social relationships. According to a research team around Liran Samuni from the German Primate Center, social games promote tolerance and cohesion within a group. Chimpanzees show more play behavior against collective action such as hunting or territorial defense. In these games, use a “play face” and pant like people to signal their willingness to play. Playful behavior helps to reduce tensions and solve conflicts, which is extremely important for the social structure. rnd describes that the social dynamics and the handling of conflicts for understanding the Swimming of chimpanzees are of central importance.

These complex social interactions require chimpanzees and are directly related to their cultural development. Chimpanzees have a remarkable culture and show skills that go beyond the many other primates, including the use of tools. These cultural practices reflect early human evolution and the need for social ties and communication. The knowledge of the game behavior and the social curiosity represent the position of chimpanzees as our closest relatives in the wildlife in a new light and expand our understanding of the evolutionary roots of social behaviors.