Animal behaviour: chimpanzee choice and prosociality.
Silk et al. report that adult chimpanzees show no difference in their choices in a situation where one choice benefits a familiar conspecific and the other does not. From this, they conclude that chimpanzees are indifferent to the welfare of unrelated group members. But without additional data confirming that chimpanzees do choose differently in circumstances in which a difference would be expected, the authors cannot conclude that there is no difference in their scenario. How chimpanzees react to the welfare of unrelated group members remains an open question.
Beninger
Richard J
RJ
Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
Quinsey
Vernon L
VL
D000375:Aging; D000533:Altruism; D000818:Animals; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D040941:Heredity; D006801:Humans; D008145:Louisiana; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012919:Social Behavior; D013781:Texas