Able-bodied wild chimpanzees imitate a motor procedure used by a disabled individual to overcome handicap.

ABSTRACT: Chimpanzee culture has generated intense recent interest, fueled by the technical complexity of chimpanzee tool-using traditions; yet it is seriously doubted whether chimpanzees are able to learn motor procedures by imitation under natural conditions. Here we take advantage of an unusual chimpanzee population as a 'natural experiment' to identify evidence for imitative learning of this kind in wild chimpanzees. The Sonso chimpanzee community has suffered from high levels of snare injury and now has several manually disabled members. Adult male Tinka, with near-total paralysis of both hands, compensates inability to scratch his back manually by employing a distinctive technique of holding a growing liana taut while making side-to-side body movements against it. We found that seven able-bodi

SUBMITTER: Hobaiter C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2916821 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature