Bonobos share like humans
Offline Buddy, Can You Spare a Banana? Study Finds That Bonobos Share Like Humans
ScienceDaily (Feb. 16, 2010) — New research suggests that the act of voluntarily sharing something with another may not be entirely exclusive to the human experience. A study published in the March 9th issue of Current Biology, observed that bonobos -- a sister species of chimpanzees and, like chimps, our closest living relatives -- consistently chose to actively share their food with others.
"It has been suggested that only humans voluntarily share their food," says lead study author Brian Hare from Duke University in North Carolina. "However, the food sharing preferences of the unusually tolerant bonobos have never been studied experimentally." Dr. Hare and Suzy Kwetuenda from the Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary for orphaned bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo conducted a study with unrelated pairs of hungry bonobos.
In the study, bonobos had to choose whether to eat some food by themselves or to give another bonobo access to it. The test subjects had the opportunity to immediately eat the food or to use a "key" to open a door to an adjacent empty room or a room that had another bonobo in it. The test subjects could easily see into the adjacent rooms, so they know which one was empty and which was occupied.
"We found that the test subjects preferred to voluntarily open the recipient's door to allow them to share highly desirable food that they could have easily eaten alone -- with no signs of aggression, frustration, or change in the speed or rate of sharing across trials," explains Dr. Hare. "This stable sharing pattern was particularly striking since in other, nonsharing contexts, bonobos are averse to food loss and adjust to minimize such losses."
The authors point out that it is possible that the bonobos in their study chose to share in order to obtain favors in the future. Additional studies are needed to gain further insight into why bonobos and humans share. "Given the continued debate about how to characterize the motivation underlying costly sharing in humans, it will certainly require future research to probe more precisely what psychological mechanisms motivate and maintain the preference we observe here in bonobos for voluntary, costly sharing," concludes Dr. Hare.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100212125708.htm
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
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You just have to ask: Would a human prison population behave in similar ways?
In the recent book " Super freakonomics" the authers related a story about another Bonobo study. The study involved teaching basic economics. It was vey simple, the bonobos were trained to relate good behavior with recieving coins, then with the coins they could buy food treats. The bonobos even learned how to haggle: The handlers traded to one subject 5 grapes for one coin rather then the useual 3 for one. The other bonobos refused to part with their coins untill the handler offered up 5 for one.
Another test was to sell off a favorite treat from a glass jar, the bonobos could see the supply slowly running out each day and as the supply went to zero they offered up more coins for the fewer remaining treats. Basic supply and demand economics.
Human behavior came through at one point when a handler was setting up the "payrole" tray for the days "work", one bonobo upended the tray towards the other subjects who quickly grabbed the coins and hid them. The handlers had to offer up the treats in order to get the coins back. So the bonobos learned thay can steal money without earning it and crime pays. Except for one male Bonobo who offered his coin to a female Bonobo; for sex; after the sex she traded the coin for the treats; so it turns out prostitution is the oldest profession!
"Very funny Scotty; now beam down our clothes."
VEGETARIAN: Ancient Hindu word for "lousy hunter"
If man was formed from dirt, why is there still dirt?
It's what you would expect, isn't it. When the bloody monkeys start worshipping inanimate objects then the godly really will be stuffed...
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
Thanks guys, cool info
Human's aren't as special as we like to think. Just lucky.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
Where can I find this study, is their any footage?
I am not aware of any videos. I got it from a non-fiction book called "Super Freakonomics". It is the follow-up to "Freakonomics" and I highly recommend both books.
"Very funny Scotty; now beam down our clothes."
VEGETARIAN: Ancient Hindu word for "lousy hunter"
If man was formed from dirt, why is there still dirt?
All it takes for a bonobo to get laid is a coin or a banana? Who are the lucky ones?
Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success. --Mark Skousen
All it takes for a human to get laid is some money or a Porsche? Who are the lucky ones?
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
to shag a monkey.
"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck
That depends on the quality of the banana. And the monkey.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.