Share:Young male chimpanzees play more with objects, but do not become better tool users

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University of Cambridge

Summary:

Research into differences between chimpanzees and bonobos in 'preparation' for tool use reveals intriguing sex bias in object manipulation in young chimpanzees -- one that is partly mirrored in human children.

Young chimpanzee at Kalinzu (Uganda)

Credit: Dr. Kathelijne Koops

New research shows a difference between the sexes in immature chimpanzees when it comes to preparing for adulthood by practising object manipulation -- considered 'preparation' for tool use in later life.

Researchers studying the difference in tool use between our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, found that immature bonobos have low rates of object manipulation, in keeping with previous work showing bonobos use few tools and none in foraging.

Chimpanzees, however, are the most diverse tool-users among non-human primates, and the researchers found high rates of a wide range of object manipulation among the young chimpanzees they studied.

While in adult wild chimpanzees it is females that are more avid and competent tool users, in juvenile chimpanzees the researchers conversely found it was the young males that spent more time manipulating objects, seemingly in preparation for adult tool use.

"In numerous mammalian species, sex differences in immatures foreshadow sex differences in the behaviour of adults, a phenomenon known as 'preparation'," said Dr Kathelijne Koops, who conducted the work at the University of Cambridge's Division of Biological Anthropology, as well as at the Anthropological Institute and Museum at Zurich University......

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