#Apes Have Temper Tantrums, Too Chimpanzees and bonobos have temper tantrums when their decisions don't play out as they'd hoped hinting that humans aren't the only species to let emotions influence their choices.
These nonhuman apes pout whimper scratch themselves and bang on things when a risky choice fails to pay off
or when they have to wait for a desired reward according to new research published Wednesday (May 29) in the journal PLOS ONE.
when making economic decisions seem to be shared with animals said study leader Alexandra Rosati a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at Yale university. 8 Humanlike Behaviors of Primates Emotional choices Humans have the power of logic
As humans'closest living relatives chimps (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) were the perfect places to look.
Evidence of emotional decisions in these apes would suggest humans share this tendency with other primate relatives.
If the apes were unemotional decision-makers however it might suggest emotional decision-making evolved later in the human lineage.
The researchers set up two experiments at the Tchimpounga Sanctuary for primates in the Republic of congo and Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of congo.
Both sanctuaries care for chimps and bonobos orphaned by the illegal bushmeat and pet trades. In the first experiment 23 chimps and 15 bonobos were given the choice between immediately getting a small reward (bananas for the chimps apple slices for the bonobos)
or waiting one to two minutes to get a reward three times the size. See Video of a Bonobo's Decision-making Angst Both species chose to wait more often than not though chimps exhibited more patience the researchers found.
In one-minute-delay trials chimps chose to wait and receive the larger option 64 percent of the time;
in two-minute-delay trials they picked the larger option almost 55 percent of the time.
Bonobos waited for the larger option 55 percent of the time when they knew it would only take one minute
and chose it 47 percent of the time in the two-minute-delay trials. Both species however exhibited emotional behaviors while waiting:
Chimps were more vocal in their impatience than the bonobos whimpering screaming and moaning 46 percent of the time compared with only 5 percent of the time in bonobos.
The animals could leave the experiment whenever they wanted so their participation was voluntary.)Risks and regret In the second experiment 24 chimps and 13 bonobos were shown a small pile of food under an overturned bowl
and then given the choice to eat either that pile or another unknown pile under a second bowl.
The foods varied in deliciousness at least from a primate perspective. The researchers determined that chimps preferred bread and bananas above all else while bonobos loved apples and bananas.
Chimps were excited least by papaya and cucumber while bonobos cared least about peanuts and lettuce.
The visible bowl contained middle-of-the-road foods for both species: peanuts for chimpanzees and papaya for bonobos.
The apes could chose this so-so food or decide to take a risk and pick the unknown food under the second bowl
which might be a delicious banana or a boring scrap of lettuce. The results revealed that chimpanzees were bigger risk-takers than the bonobos.
Chimps picked the unknown risky option 65 percent of the time compared with 39 percent of the time for bonobos.
Again both species got irritated when those risky choices failed to pay off with a favorite food.
They banged vocalized and scratched. The apes even showed a behavior that looked a bit like regret.
After choosing the unknown bowl and finding a disliked food the animals frequently tried to change their choice to the other bowl.
Primate psychology These findings confirm that humans aren't the only primates that get upset
The discovery that chimps were more willing to wait than bonobos and that they took more risks is also important she said.
In the wild chimpanzees tend to live in areas where food is seasonal and hard to find
while bonobos have an easier time foraging. The difference could explain why chimps are more patient
and more willing to take risks for a good payoff than are their bonobo cousins.
The kind of economic biases we see in different species including humans might really have a biological basis in terms of these species being prepared for different environments Rosati said.
Now that researchers know the apes do show emotional reactions to unwanted outcomes scientists hope to find out how those emotions might influence decisions Rosati said.
The study turned up a few hints that this kind of influence does indeed operate in apes.
For example bonobos who tried hardest to switch their choice after an unwanted outcome in the food bowl experiment were also the least likely to take risks in the first place.
Apes seem to have a really rich set of psychological skills for making their foraging decisions she said.
Eventually the mammalian lineage evolved into primates then apes then hominids and finally the Homo lineage that produced human beings.
</p><p></p><p>By about 5 million years ago certain apes in Africa had mastered the art of upright walking these were the hominids.
</p><p></p><p>Jared Diamond popularized this descriptor in his book The Third Chimpanzee (1992)
When hunters kill gorillas and other primates for their meat the primates no longer disperse the seeds of some fruit
-and nut-bearing trees and wind-dispersed seedlings take root instead according to a study published today (March 19) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The seedling communities of the forest floors are really different in a hunted forest compared to a well-protected forest said study co-author Ola Olsson an ecologist
Illegal practice Though illegal hunting for bushmeat from wild or endangered animals such as primates is now widespread in Africa.
25 Primates in Peril Population increases have forced people to live at the forest's edges.
and there are few taboos against eating nonhuman primates. New roads guns and cars also enable people to hunt gorillas
and bring carcasses to city markets where they fetch a handsome sum Olsson said. Hunted and protected To find out how primate hunting affected the forest Olsson
and his colleagues surveyed trees and mammals in the Nigerian rain forest bordering Cameroon. Park rangers protected some forested areas
which teem with monkeys and gorillas while nearby hunted areas were full of rodents such as rats and porcupines.
Whereas similar large trees dominated both types of forest the seedlings looked very different. Well-protected forests had many seedlings such as the bush mango that rely on primates to spread their seeds.
Many of these trees bear fruits or nuts that humans also eat. Hunted forests held seedling species that relied on wind to disperse their seeds.
And whereas gorilla and monkey meat does provide protein for local people the fruit trees the primates maintain may be an even bigger economic benefit to people Olsson said.
Without primates and other large-bodied mammals forests are not regenerating in the way they've evolved to do over millions of years Lambert said.
But another strategy one that helped gorilla populations rebound in Rwanda and Uganda is to pay former hunters to serve as park rangers
 The Neogene Period gives rise to early primates including early humans. Bovids including cattle sheep goats antelope
#Chimps Have a Sense of Fairness Humans aren't the only ones who cry no fair.
In a classic test of fairness called the ultimatum game apes will dole out an equitable share of their bananas
and chimpanzees may share an evolved sense of fairness common to many cooperative species said lead study author Darby Proctor a primatologist at Emory University.
Selfish apes But past studies of the ultimatum game in chimpanzees (with raisins) had suggested our closest living relatives were rational maximizers who would accept even the stingiest offering without getting ruffled.
if the apes accepted but made them wait a full minute after rejecting the offer raising the possibility that the apes realized it was more fruitful to accept quickly to get more raisins rather than rejecting lowball offers.
Chimps and children In the new study the team trained the primates to dole out tokens that stood for bananas with one token symbolizing an equal split
while the other was an unfair deal that benefitted the first chimp. See a Video of Chimps'Ultimatum Game At first the chimps were stingy
but very quickly they switched to offering equitable splits in the ultimatum game. To test the method the researchers had 3-to 5-year-old children participate in a similar experiment using stickers instead of bananas.
The little ones started out greedy but quickly offered the tokens for fairer distributions of stickers.
me as very similar to the chimps Proctor said. They would say things like'You got more stickers than me'or
'The findings suggest chimp and human sense of fairness aren't so different Milinski said.
I am not surprised we are so similar to chimps. We are not unique Milinski told Livescience.
and the brightly-colored tiger leg monkey frog (Phyllomedusa tomopterna) which earns its moniker from its orange-and-black underbelly and limbs.
In their new study Uno and his team tested the radiocarbon dating technique on the tusks of two elephants that died in 2006 and 2008 as well as elephant and hippo teeth monkey hair and oryx horn.
#Coolest Science Stories of the Week<p></p><p>Science brought us walking sharks artistic chimps and even the first human mind-meld?</
technique even among chimpanzees has won the popular vote; Brent a 37-year-old male chimpanzee paints only with his tongue.
His piece a cluster of smudges and speckles garnered the most votes in a chimpanzee art contest the Humane Society of the United states (HSUS) announced Thursday (Aug 29.</
</p><p>The judge's selection made by primatologist Jane Goodall went to Cheetah a former laboratory chimpanzee who used an autumnal palette dominated by yellow orange and red.</
</p><p>Full Story:<<a href=http://www. livescience. com/39336-tongue-painting-chimp-wins-art-contest. html target=blank>Tongue-Painting Chimp Takes 1st Place
in Art Contest</a p></p><p>Scientists have created a microscopic sphere and set it awhirl at a blistering 600 million rotations per minute.</
>If a snake eats a monkey in the forest and no one sees it does it make a difference?
and eating a howler monkey. The finding and boa-eating-monkey video is noteworthy since reports of primates being eaten by predators are relatively rare according to the study published this month in the journal Primates.</
</p><p>Full Story & Video:<<a href=http://www. livescience. com/39172-boa-constrictor-eats-howler-monkey. html target=blank>Boa constrictor Seen Eating Howler monkey in a First</a p></p><p
>One man has controlled the movements of another person by sending brain signals via the Internet.</</p><p>The demonstration is the first example of two human brains directly interacting.</
</p><p>Full Story:<<a href=http://www. livescience. com/39265-first-human-mind-meld-created. html target=blank>First Human Mind-Meld Created</a p></p><p>The concept of a time machine
But with primates eggs are a very precious resource and it is not easy to acquire them to conduct experiments Lanza said.
But primates aren't able to do this and researchers think it may be one reason that attempts to clone monkeys have failed Lanza said.
See How Stem Cell Cloning Works (Infographic) What's more cloned animals often have different kinds of genetic abnormalities that can prevent embryo implantation in a uterus
To illustrate natural selection Darwin did not directly suggest that humans shared a common ancestor with apes.
Dogs were better than wolves and better than even humans'closest living relativesâ chimpanzees. The question was
Humans need to abandon the anthropocentric view that only big-brained animals such as ourselves nonhuman great apes elephants
Even humans'closest relatives chimpanzees do not follow human gestures as well as dogs do. Both purebreds and mixed breeds followed their owners'gestures
And this list runs the gamut with the usual suspects primates chewing on medicinal herbs as well as some more surprising drug-takers such as fruit flies ants
Previously scientists thought such behavior was unique to primates and more intelligent animals where self-medication could be learned
But according to the study scientists who examined recent research in the field animals from insects to chimpanzees may self-medicate as an innate response to parasites and perhaps for other reasons as well.
Another plant eaten as a medicine by primates is now being used as an antiemetic (to treat nausea
#Dwarf Lemurs Hibernate Like Bears The western fat-tailed dwarf lemur was the only primate thought to be a hibernator.
Until about 4 million years ago our early hominin ancestors had diets that were isotopically at least very similar to chimpanzees'said Matt Sponheimer a paleoanthropologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
and macaques among them exploring their natural habitat. The footage comes from more than 100 automated infrared camera traps set up in nature reserves in the Sichuan region.
In one video clip of a group of Tibetan stump-tailed macaques one of the monkeys curiously sticks its face in front of the camera
Monkeys Eat What Others are Eating Just as human travelers often adopt the local cuisine wild monkeys learn to eat
what those around them are eating new research finds. A study of wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops) in South africa provides proof that primates other than humans adopt
and conform to cultural behaviors. Given a choice between two foods infant monkeys ate only the foods that their mothers ate.
And young males that ventured to other groups soon switched to the local diet researchers report online today (April 25) in the journal Science.
Some of the ways of learning that we have thought were distinctly human are shared more broadly across nonhuman primates said study co-author Andrew Whiten a cognitive biologist at the University of St andrews in the United kingdom. Image Gallery:
Adorable Vervet monkeys Conform to Peers Cultural learning and conformity play central roles in human life. Whereas many studies have documented cultural transmission in lab animals few have shown this phenomenon occurs in the wild.
A team of researchers studied four groups of wild vervet monkeys each containing 24 to 44 individuals (109 animals in total.
but the monkeys continued to eat only the color to which they had become accustomed.
When baby monkeys that had tasted never either color corn were allowed to feed with their mothers the little ones ate only the color of corn their mothers ate
when young-adult males from each group migrated to another group during the mating season a common practice that ensures genetic diversity in vervet populations.
Frans de Waal a primatologist at Emory University's Yerkes Primate Center who was involved not in the study called the finding striking.
Primates aren't the only animals to learn from their peers. For example another new study shows that whales pick up feeding techniques from their friends.
or bears or apes is the original wild child often having little or no language ability or manners.
and wildly popular 1894 collection of stories The Jungle book. Writer Edgar Rice burroughs created Tarzan a boy raised by African apes in the early 1900s
Although there are about 18 different species of Cyclospora currently known four appear to be specific to nonhuman primates.
and norms of a so-called exceptional contemporary culture by introducing individual and named animal beings cows turkeys dolphinsâ chimpanzees
They are the only other mammals besides primates to have them. Koala fur is waterproof.
Leopards eat anything from carcasses fish and reptiles to mammals such as baboons antelopes warthogs hares and rodents.
which are called sometimes cat monkeys because they look like house cats with long tails. But the orange-brown olinguito eluded classification by scientists for more than 100 years
We are descendants of the primates who most successfully employed patternicity. So is the Billy goat curse real?
So far Mitalipov and his colleagues have not been able to grow a cloned monkey fetus to term suggesting that primate reproduction may be even more complex than what is known from Dolly the sheep and other farm animals.
The cloning of a monkey or other nonhuman primate would likely be a strong signal that it's time to set some rules around human cloning Cibelli said.
Thirteen states currently have laws on the books prohibiting reproductive cloning. A worst-case scenario would be a clone showing up on the scene before the legalities are hammered out Knoepfler said.
Morde claimed that his guides told him tales of a temple dedicated to the worship of a monkey god.
The study is the first evidence of modern wild primates sleeping regularly in caves. Early human remains in South africa have been found in caves suggesting that
although lemurs and humans aren't particularly closely related as far as primates go there is something in deep primate history that makes caves appealing possibly protection from predators said study researcher Michelle Sauther an anthropologist at the University of Colorado Boulder.
The behavior may be characteristic of a deep primate heritage that goes back millions of years.
Lemur lodge Ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) are part of a branch of primates that includes other lemurs bushbabies and lorises.
This is the first time that wild primates have been found to use caves as a place to bunk regularly Sauther
Previously endangered Fusui langurs monkeys found in Asia had been seen retreating to caves at night but the langurs slept in caves only after their forest homes had been logged or clear-cut.
The langurs also moved from cave to cave each night instead of returning to the same cave for years.
 The remarkable thing about our study was that over a six-year period the same troops of ring-tailed lemurs used the same sleeping caves on a regular daily basis Sauther said.
What we are seeing is a consistent habitual use of caves as sleeping sites by these primates a wonderful behavioral adaptation we had known not about before.
Researchers at Emory University near Atlanta have demonstrated that primates map their environment using grid cells specialized neurons that help the animals navigate by overlaying a virtual grid made of triangles atop regularly spaced points in the environment.
She suspects that these grid cells don't just help primates navigate--they also help form visual memories.
While experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging had hinted at the presence of human grid cells they had never been observed directly in any primate.
In research reported in November in the journal Nature three Rhesus monkeys looked at images on a computer screen
When Buffalo and her coworkers compared eye-tracking results to the electrode measurements they found that the monkeys like the rats were using neurons in the entorhinal cortex to construct a triangular grid they could superimpose on their environment.
 Primates though are sophisticated more cartographers: the monkeys were able to activate their grid cells simply by looking around.
We tend to explore things with our eyes said Buffalo and unlike the rats in the original experiments primates don't have to actually visit a place to construct the same kind of mental map.
Showing the monkeys the same picture twice enabled Buffalo to link grid cells to memory.
When the monkeys looked at a familiar image some cells fired less frequently apparently remembering what they had mapped already.
This suggests that grid cells may provide a kind of framework for making associations said Buffalo.
Studies of brain changes in Alzheimer's disease in humans consistently show localized degeneration in the same parts of the entorhinal cortex where Buffalo found grid cells in monkeys.
She suspects that the cells Buffalo observed which respond to the monkeys'eye movements may represent a new type of grid cell
The next step is to study grid cells in a 3-D virtual environment where the ability to manipulate the monkeys'surroundings permits researchers to study how grid cells respond to a range of variables.
Species like rodents and primates did not share the Earth with nonavian dinosaurs but arose from a common ancestor a small insect-eating scampering animal shortly after the dinosaurs'demise said researcher Maureen O'Leary at Stony Brook University in New york. The study was so thorough that the team made up of 23
#Monkeys Shun Selfish Others Capuchin monkeys are known for their ability to recognize when they're being treated inequitably
but it now appears the primates can even spot unfairness in situations that don't involve themselves.
The fluffy-faced monkeys judge the social interactions of others and hold biases against individuals behaving poorly new research shows.
In a pair of studies researchers investigated how capuchin monkeys in captivity reacted to different third-party social interactions.
In one study capuchins watched two actors engage in reciprocity exchanges in which one actor handed over several balls to another who then either reciprocated or selfishly kept all the balls.
After each scene the monkeys chose a treat from one of the actors they consistently avoided treats from actors who refused to reciprocate or help.
Capuchins in the wild may keep tabs on group members to figure out whom to avoid interacting with on a specific day researchers said.
The research implies capuchin monkeys are judging other individuals even when they aren't involved in the action something that humans do said all the time Sarah Brosnan an ethnologist at Georgia State university who wasn't involved in the new research.
It suggests the behavior may be rooted deeply in the primate family tree. Video: Watch the Monkeys Judge Selfish Humans In all fairness In 2003 Brosnan
and her colleagues discovered capuchin monkeys have a sense of fairness. They trained captive monkeys to hand them an object in exchange for a cucumber slice or the preferable grape.
If a capuchin saw another monkey receive a grape while it was given a cucumber it would refuse the reward or even throw the cucumber at the researcher.
Subsequent research showed other cooperative primates including chimpanzees also know when they're being treated unfairly
but nobody has looked at whether nonhuman primates can spot inequity in situations that don't involve themselves.
So we wondered if they're sensitive to third-party interactions said James Anderson a primatologist at the University of Stirling in Scotland
and lead author of the new studies. Can they form impressions of individuals based on how those individuals behave towards one another?
To find out Anderson and his colleagues tested capuchins'reactions to scenes of reciprocity. Two actors began with two containers each one
After each scene both actors offered an identical treat to the monkey the capuchin chose a treat by reaching toward one of the outstretched hands.
The primates showed no preference when both actors reciprocated but they consistently avoided taking treats from non-reciprocators the researchers found in the study detailed online recently in the journal Cognition.
The monkeys showed no significant preferences in either cases but were overall more likely to accept treats from impoverished than incomplete reciprocators
as if the monkeys accepted her intention to fully reciprocate Anderson said. Showing biases In a companion study published today (March 5) in the journal Nature Communications the researchers tested how capuchins regard unhelpful people.
Here one actor struggled to open a container and requested help from the second actor who either helped
Similar to before the capuchins avoided accepting treats from unhelpful actors. No Fair? 5 Animals With a Moral Compass The researchers then investigated
Again if the second actor refused to help the monkeys showed a sharp bias against her and accepted treats only from the other actor.
because she was occupied too with her own container the capuchins showed no biases further suggesting the monkeys considered the actors'intentions.
if the act of turning away rather than being unhelpful was specifically to blame for the monkeys'biases;
it wasn't.)Importantly the objects handled in both studies had no relevance to the monkeys Anderson said.
If actors handled food the monkeys would likely choose whoever they thought would give them the most treats.
Using food could have changed the capuchins'behaviors. A widespread behavior? I think it's a really interesting study with implications for helping us understand how cooperation comes about said Malini Suchak a primatologist at Emory University who wasn't involved in the research.
Capuchins and some other primate species are very cooperative so knowing who in their community will be the most reciprocal
If social evaluation isn't widespread among primates it may mean the behavior evolved from some kind of selective pressure she said.
if capuchins really do judge the actions of their own kind. I would want to see what they could get the capuchins to understand about two other capuchins Proctor said adding that the studies'results suggest the monkeys evaluate each other in the wild.
For now Anderson is investigating what capuchins think of people who over-reciprocate. Can monkeys develop a positive bias for a person who behaves generously?
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