For those who believe that humans are merely highly evolved chimpanzees, think again. A new study conducted by a team from the universities of Manchester, Birmingham, and St. Andrews and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology revealed that chimpanzees are very selfish creatures who act only in their own interest. Thus, altruism is a distinct trait of humans.
In the study, the team worked with a group of 16chimpanzees at the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda, according to The Daily Mail. They used two experiments to determine the chimpanzees' sense of altruism.
In the first one, six chimpanzees were given the opportunity to release a peg attached to a food box that would feed other chimpanzees. For seven other chimpanzees, the release of the peg would block the others' access to food.
All chimps acknowledged that their actions could either help or hinder their fellow primates, but their actions did not change. In the follow-up test, chimpanzees were even given access to their neighbours' cage. Researchers discovered that chimpanzees only acted and released the peg when it had a clear effect on their own food consumption. Otherwise, they did not bother releasing the peg if it would block their own food.
"The results of these experiments combined demonstrate that the chimpanzees did not act in a manner that would produce benefits for others in a task where there was no perceived benefit to themselves," said Dr. Claudio Tennie from the University of Birmingham. "Indeed, given that the participants were just as likely to prevent access to food as they were to permit access, chimpanzees are no more altruistic than they are spiteful."
Even after they demonstrated a clear understanding of the consequences of their actions, Tennie said the chimps could not care less and remained indifferent on how their actions would affect others.
