Social Learning With Chimpanzees And Other Animals

“In their natural homes in the wild, chimpanzees humans’ closest living genetic relatives”, who are more like us than they’re like gorillas are never separated from their families and troops . “Profoundly social beings, they spend every day together exploring, crafting and using tools to solve problems, foraging, playing, grooming each other, and making soft nests for sleeping each night” . They care deeply for their families and forge lifelong friendships . Chimpanzee mothers are loving and protective, nursing their infants and sharing their nests with them for four to six years . They have excellent memories and share cultural traditions with their children and peers . They empathize with one another and console their friends when they’re upset . They help others, even at a personal cost to themselves . When one of another

Various primates show ability in their environment, some concepts may exist to other than human species or it may not. The author explains in depth the certain behaviours that come with forms of communication. Throughout this article, understanding the behavioural reasoning to observe predictions from one another. Social environment has been said to be suggested to represent the components. This mainstream article published online has a brief report and explains the facts by categories and only facts not opinions or comments. The specific format which describes the details right away and by the following paragraphs that help me understand it easier because it is not hard to read, the concept is right then and there. I like the fact that this article demonstrates the behavior of primates in formats that are understandable and can represent debate lies. Within assumption the examples given of behavior were simply a chimpanzee trying to go up a tree. A few chimpanzees took different roles tring to help each other up a tree. Experiments are said to look for evidence for primate subjects not just performing an act but also understanding

Anthropologists over time recognized several physical and behavioral traits that connect humans to other primates, but can primates learn to manipulate tools, imitate, cooperate, communicate, and reason somewhat like humans? By studying the various characteristics of primate behavior among their various societies, many scientists are able to induce a stronger understanding of human relations among primates and further our knowledge and understandings about evolution. The existence or nonexistence of cultural patterns in subhuman primates may best be determined by observations amongst different primate groups in their natural habitats. “culture is dependent upon the ability of an animal within a social group to acquire from another group member

Within this essay, we will study more in depth the behavioral as well as physical traits of two primates at a zoo from their interaction with their peers to their place in the group. This observation would enable us to further understand the possible existing correlation between humans and primates. First, I studied a female chimpanzee with her baby, and then, a dominant male gorilla, in San Francisco Zoo at about noon, on May 23, 2015, for an hour each. Even though they share some similarities such as having a large brain, living for a long time, and being bored in their enclosure, they are still different; when gorillas are the largest, chimpanzees are the smartest. In fact, chimps use tools to catch food, they would not be able to reach

The use of tools comes to practice everyday as chimpanzees collect food from the jungle. Goodall describes how chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park use straw and blades of grass poke holes to hunt for termites by “squatting beside the termite nest, pushing and withdrawing the long grass stem through a hole”. Moreover, during Gooddal’s research, she observed chimpanzees modifying tools, such as small leafy twigs, thus showing the beginnings of tool making. Chimpanzees in West Africa also use tools to get honey from underground bees’ nests. Recently, scientists found out that chimpanzees living in West Savannah use deadly spears from sticks and hand crafted tools to hunt for small animals.

     It is common in monkeys, apes and humans that behavior and social organization aren’t necessarily programmed into the genes. There have been several cases where an entire troop has learned from the experiences of just a few. In a group of Japanese macaques, for example, a three-year-old female female developed the habit of washing dirt of of sweet potatoes before she

Have you ever noticed that we love to observe primates? You may not realize it, but it is because we know how closely related we are to them. By observing and studying contemporary primate behavior we are able to better understand our own evolution as hominins. Studying primate behavior, especially locomotion and cooperation, has allowed us to discover the evolution of behaviors to where we are now. Locomotion and cooperation are two main behaviors that define hominins and the evolution of humans overall.

Gretchen Vogel, a contributing correspondent for the journal Science, wrote an article on how primate culture can help us learn the roots of human culture. Vogel refers to a primatologists and psychologists research on differences in habits between chimpanzee groups at different locations. The research mostly focuses on chimpanzees and their ability to learn from one another. Vogel writes about the evidence of primate culture that is based on field studies comparing the chimpanzee skills and behaviors in groups around Africa. According to Vogel geographic differences impacts a chimpanzee’s specific behavior and skills. She states that even if we do not consider primate behaviors a culture researchers say that primate traditions may offer insight

Once humans broke off from other primates during evolution our behavior evolved with us. I think primates and early humans have similar behaviors but I do not think it would make a good model into understanding early human behavior. It would not make a good model because there might be similarities but the similarities are not exactly the same and there are still differences in the behaviors. In Ape genius, they showed chimpanzees are making spears and hunting that would be a good example of a similarity in primates and early human behavior. In Ape Genius they showed that some apes can learn different skills by watching and imitating. Imitation is similar to how humans teach children. Apes displaying imitation showed that they have complex

Learning is a flexible change in behavior or knowledge as you experience something new (Bernstein, 2014, p.170). Amy Sutherland, a journalist, was writing about a school for exotic animal trainers when she came across a distinct revelation. She discovered that behaviors, human or animal, can be modified by positive reinforcement. Furthermore, in class we discussed that should you provide a reinforcement, it must be continuous, but also intermittent. This creates the question as to why “it’s never the animal’s fault” and what other behaviors can be systematically shaped.

Nut-cracking is one of the most primitive forms of human percussive technology; contemporary humans around the world crack nuts using stone tools. Extant nonhuman primates, such as bearded capuchin monkeys, Sapajus libidinosus and chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes also crack nuts. Typically, researchers test the performance of these other species on tasks that are specific to humans, but do not test humans on tasks specific to any of these species. In the present study, we demonstrate that when cracking a tucum, Astrocaryum campestre nut wild bearded capuchin monkeys, Sapajus libidinosus outperform anthropologists, and local inhabitants outperform monkeys; thus questioning the symbolism associated with the use of tools by hominids. The monkeys took

The research in Uganda would show that none of the abnormal behaviors that were shown in zoos were displayed in the wild. The resulting research shows us that despite differences in the location, group size and the zoo itself, there was abnormal behavior displayed that could not be explained by age, sex, history of how the chimpanzee was raised or their backgrounds. The data shows us that although most behavior by chimpanzees in zoos is considered normal and is displayed in wild chimpanzees, abnormal behavior is widespread and extremely common in captive chimpanzees (Birkett). Birkett and the research team suggest that there is a strong need to understand how chimpanzees cope with living in captivity. This is an issue of animal welfare of animals that are held captive in

The largest obstacle in great ape language acquisition has been vocabulary. In the past, attempts to teach them to use spoken language has yielded extremely limited results; however, attempts to teach symbolic language (especially human sign language) have been incredibly successful (Patterson & Cohn 1990). It is interesting to note that sign language acquisition in great apes shares similarities with language acquisition in human children. For example, a chimpanzee named Washoe showed overgeneralization in her use of signs during her early learning stages that can be compared to perceptual classifications in children (Patterson 1978). Chimpanzee research has shown that, like young children, chimpanzees acquire gestual language in stages, such as combining

Many researchers wonder if chimpanzees are really able to use language in a rudimentary way, or if it is just created by operant conditioning. Psychologists realized, as far back as 60 years ago, that chimps would never be able to learn spoken language. They do not have the specialized tongue, lips, teeth, facial muscles, and palate that humans do to make the vast array of speech sounds that humans do. Researchers have instead tried to teach chimps some visual form of language.

most behaviors and characteristics result from learning (Kendra Cherry). Then all behavior, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a