Wild chimps make their own 'dolls'

[n2doc]

17:12 20 December 2010 by Rowan Hooper
When Jane Goodall first reported that chimps use tools, our concept of human uniqueness was rocked. It has never quite recovered. In another twist, a population of wild chimps of the Kanyawara community in Uganda's Kibale National Park appears to be using objects as toys.

That's remarkable in itself, but Sonya Kahlenberg of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, found that juvenile chimps in this population play with sticks like children play with dolls, cradling them and even making nests for them to sleep in at night – and they found that the behaviour is more common in females.

"I favour the hypothesis that stick carrying is practice for the adult role of motherhood," says Kahlenberg, "perhaps similar to functions of other kinds of play, being practice for adult roles."


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http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19890-wild-chimps-make-their-own-dolls.html

[damntexdem]

1. Well of course WILD chimps make their own dolls.

Only tame chimps buy their dolls in stores.

;-)

[thereismore]

2. Some consider stick carrying manly. nt

[Orsino]

3. They are ACTION FIGURES.

Not dolls.

[dgibby]

4. After working at a primate sanctuary,

I am no longer surprised by anything these amazing creatures do.

I cared for a baby gibbon for 3.5 years, and watching her develop was a wonderful education. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. Best job ever!