Poles: for brown transport objects, female dolls

2011/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biologia
• Zoologia

Chimpanzees use sticks based on sex

After 14 years of observation of chimpanzees in Uganda's Kibale National Park, researchers concluded that females and chimpanzee males use sticks differently.

In fact, everyone uses poles to explore the holes, looking for water or honey, to touch each other, to play solo or group and to move from one place to another. And in this last activity they have seen the difference by sex: the females move more than the males and, moreover, they are not transported anymore, but they do it as if they were young.

Richard Wrangham, a primatologist at Harvard University, is one of the research directors and says that young chimpanzees use their sticks "like dolls": they leave them in the nest when they rest, play with them...

However, researchers are unclear whether this behavior is widespread. And they have not seen it anywhere else, so it may be a cultural custom of the Kibaleku. If this were so, it is the first time it is shown that in youth they have a special tradition, as children will play some songs and games. "This suggests that the traditions and behaviors of chimpanzees and people are even more similar than previously thought," Wrangham said.

The research has been published in the journal Current Medicina.