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Chimpanzees Help, But Only When Asked

Chimpanzees have a bad reputation. Maybe it’s because humans have a thing about wanting to feel unique among primates. Some have argued that humans are the only species that truly behaves altruistically, the only species that actively helps out other individuals even when there is no direct benefit. Despite mounting evidence that other animals, including non-human primates, have various forms of theory of mind, many still believe that human altruism exists because we – and we alone among all the animal kingdom – can understand the goals of others. Or, if there are other animals that can understand the goals of others, perhaps we somehow do it more readily.

In a new paper just published in PNAS, primatologist Shinya Yamamotoa and colleagues point out that while chimpanzees are known to help others, they don’t usually help when it would mean giving up things like food, even if they’ve got more food than they need. Even between a mother and her infant!

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