|
|
 |
 |
Study Finds Chimpanzees Behave a Lot Like Humans
Humans may not be the only animals with tools, culture and moral values. Biologists who have been study a group of chimpanzees for over a year have observed that they may behave more like us than we once thought.
Like people, chimpanzees use tools. In Senegal, Chimps make spears to use for hunting animals that hide in holes. They also shape long twigs in order to pull termites from their mounds.
But beyond tools, chimps show that they have another human-like behavior - empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. They console each other when sad and try to stop fights, for example.
The primatologist Dr. Frans de Waal believes that the social rules that chimps use are similar to where human morals came from. Our morals tell us what is right and what is wrong. Dr. de Waal says that animals that live in groups change their behavior so that they can all get along. He says this may be the source of human morality.
The philosopher Dr. Philip Kitcher agrees with Dr. de Waal, but thinks that the human ability of reason is where morals come from, that humans stop to think about what is right and wrong.
But Dr. de Waal thinks that emotions are where morals came from. He believes that as humans evolved, people had to make life-or-death decisions too quickly to think about it.
Whatever the conclusion, studying chimps' behavior is giving us a greater understanding of our own evolution!
I'm Adelbert and that's what happened in science this week!
Chimps may behave a lot like us, but we're still smarter than them! Let's prove it in this week's Just the Facts game!
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
