BUFFALO, NY − Chimpanzees housed in a socially-complex, contained setting spontaneously initiate cooperative behavior, according to research conducted by Malini Suchak, PhD, assistant professor of animal behavior, ecology and conservation (ABEC). But perhaps more importantly, says Suchak, “When given the option to choose who to work with, chimpanzees make very discerning choices. This is something we didn’t give them credit for before.”
Suchak and her collaborators at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, worked with 11 members of a chimpanzee social group in a large outdoor enclosure. The study apparatus required that one or two chimpanzees remove a barrier so that another chimp could pull in a tray baited with food. The group had no pre-training with the apparatus and no restrictions on partner choice. Click here to view a brief video of the chimpanzees operating the apparatus.
“The success rate (nearly 4,000 times over the course of 94 one-hour sessions) increased as time went on,” says Suchak. “In addition, we noticed definite patterns in partner preferences. Chimps gravitated towards those who were tolerant of them, which meant those who would not steal from them or attack them. They also chose partners of the same rank and their relatives. And those choices were mutual.”
Suchak is conducting follow-up studies with several of her students at Canisius. She is examining how chimps communicate their cooperative intentions and also whether or not how well they know an individual affects their partner choice. Suchak believes such studies have implications for human behavioral research.
follow-up studies on how chimpanzees communicate cooperative intentions and initiate cooperation with partners of differing skill levels. She believes such studies have implications for human behavioral research.
“Cooperation among primates has attracted considerable research because of the evolutionary implications that such research has for human behavior,” says Suchak. “Just as humans do, chimps have both a collaborative side and a competitive side.”
The initial study, which was conducted at the Yerkes Primate Research Center over a period of nine months 2011-2012, included researchers Frans de Wall, Matthew Campell, PhD, and Timothy Eppley.
Canisius is one of 28 Jesuit universities in the nation and the premier private university in Western New York.
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