Untitled Document
 Chimpanzees
share many similarities with humans.
They can walk like humans and can even use tools like us. According
to animal scientists, they share similar social characteristics with
humans, too. American researchers found in their new study that the
primates practice a sense
of fairness similar to people's!
Researchers at Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University
in Atlanta studied chimpanzees to better understand their social behaviors.
The researchers played the Ultimatum Game on 20 American children
aged two to seven years old and six adult chimpanzees. The game is
often used to determine the human sense
of fairness.
In the game, a reward could be variously split between a
player and a partner. Two sets of experiments were carried out on the children
and then the animals.
 The researchers
found that both the chimps and the children split the reward equally.
It is the first time the characteristic has been identified in primates.
“Humans typically offer generous portions, such as
50 percent, of the reward to their partners,” said Dr. Darby Proctor,
who led the study. “That’s exactly what we recorded in our study with
chimpanzees. It showed that chimpanzees will divide their resources in
an equitable manner.” |
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