I was referred to this article by @evolvify tweet today.
First, I want to say that I think this was a very interesting theory and observations.
A quote at the end of the article sparked a thought:
"One of the things that makes our finding fascinating is that there is little evidence of anything comparable in other chimpanzee communities, which raises the possibility that the chimpanzees are copying a local behavioral tradition. So this may be a lovely case of biological and social influences being intertwined."
So, follow me here for a minute...
They are suggesting that the doll-like activities of young female chimps may not be a chimp thing, but is actually the chimps imitating human behavior. If that is true, then the question of why it is only the young female and not young male, mature female, or mature male chimps that exhibit this behavior still exists.
In order for this scenario to be true, you would have young female chimps specifically imitating the behavior of young female humans, which brings up some interesting thoughts.
This requires that the chimps understand male/female difference. Of course, like all animals, this understanding and recognition exists amongst other chimps but this takes that understanding and recognition ability to another level in that they also are able to recognize that difference in other species and determine the sex of a member of another species on observation. The same goes for an understanding and recognition of age/maturity in other species.
I restate that, for this theory to be true, the young female chimps are specifically imitating their "equal" in the human species. They are not imitating mature female humans or even young male humans so they have both age/maturity and sex correct. They would have to see the young female humans as "like them" and choose them as their closest link to another species because of the shared sex and age/maturity (relative age, not exact age of course).
Personally, I do not have any objections to this theory. It seems very plausible.
Let me know your thoughts...
They are suggesting that the doll-like activities of young female chimps may not be a chimp thing, but is actually the chimps imitating human behavior. If that is true, then the question of why it is only the young female and not young male, mature female, or mature male chimps that exhibit this behavior still exists.
In order for this scenario to be true, you would have young female chimps specifically imitating the behavior of young female humans, which brings up some interesting thoughts.
This requires that the chimps understand male/female difference. Of course, like all animals, this understanding and recognition exists amongst other chimps but this takes that understanding and recognition ability to another level in that they also are able to recognize that difference in other species and determine the sex of a member of another species on observation. The same goes for an understanding and recognition of age/maturity in other species.
I restate that, for this theory to be true, the young female chimps are specifically imitating their "equal" in the human species. They are not imitating mature female humans or even young male humans so they have both age/maturity and sex correct. They would have to see the young female humans as "like them" and choose them as their closest link to another species because of the shared sex and age/maturity (relative age, not exact age of course).
Personally, I do not have any objections to this theory. It seems very plausible.
Let me know your thoughts...
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