As the consequences of climate change bear down on all species today, flexible behavior in chimpanzees may be more necessary than ever and their past may be their best defense in an uncertain future.
Our study shows that a mother’s presence and support throughout the prolonged childhood years was also likely a trait in the last common ancestor that humans shared with chimpanzees six to eight million years ago. This trait is likely to have been fundamental in shaping both chimpanzee and human evolution”.
Chimps in more variable conditions exhibit more and different behaviors.
For the Buddhist faithful in Lobpuri, feeding them was a meritorious deed – but the monkey population has soared in recent years, driving away visitors and decimating parts of the local economy.
Human societies developed food preferences based on a blend of what was available and what the group decided it liked most. Those predilections were then passed along as part of the set of socially learned behaviors, values, knowledge, and customs that make up culture. Besides humans, many other social animals are believed to exhibit forms of culture in various ways, too.