Chimpanzees appear to mourn their dead infants just like humans, scientists have discovered.
Chimpanzee mothers establish close physical relationships with their young, carrying them for up to two years and nursing them until they are six.
But now scientists have filmed how one chimpanzee
Why is it suprizing that apes have human like experiences?
What does this tell us about the continuum of 'man' and 'beast' ?
(Thanks to Allison)
I took Human Origins last semester and learned so much about monkey's and their behavior. One thing that was fascinating to me was that the King primate of a group would kill the offspring of his desired mate because he saw them as a threat. The offspring were considered a threat because the mom could possibly love her baby more than the King. It also intimidated the King monkey because it showed the female had mated with another monkey and therefore was less desirable. It's crazy how similar this situation can be when applied to humans. Men and women sometimes feel different about their relationships when they find out their significant other has had a child with someone else. It can create a sense of loss and detachment for some people. But then for some it doesn't make a difference. I'm guessing how they react just depends on the person..or the monkey.
It really doesn't surprise me that this animal was curious and concerned about her baby not moving. She had been taking care of it for what 18 months and all of a sudden it isn't moving or breathing any longer. Of course she is going to have a reaction to it. I don't know if monkeys "morn" and it is impossible to know how this mother monkey was feeling (referring to all the bickering comments on the bottom or the article) but it is interesting to see how she reacts to the loss of her baby, and it would be interesting to see if there are patterns to the reaction to the loss of a baby monkey.
It's suprising because it's they are not humans, and when and if non-human's exhibit feelings, emotions, or behaviors that we think only human's can posess, we are often suprised and intrigued by it. It's not wholey suprising as it would be if say a cat or a dog was exhibiting this behavior, because primates can be very human like. It tells us that we have certain similarities with these primates that allow us to share (sort of) the same feelings about certain instances.
I sent this article in and thought it was interesting because it seems so foreign to us think that other mammals could have feelings like us. I think a lot of people are very opposed to the idea (comments on the article).
I think it would be hard to dispute that this monkey isn't feeling some type of grief. Thinking about the harlow experiment, it's obvious monkeys need secure attachment or they turn out to be just as messed up as humans who don't have secure attachments.
I found this article to be very fascinating. It is somewhat surprising because I have never seen anything like this before. It seems as if the chimpanzee does reaction in a way that seems similar to how humans mourn when we lose a loved one. The chimpanzee was acting as if they were in disbelief and portrayed what seemed to be emotional behavior towards the dead infant. This goes to show that humans may be more related to monkeys in a more complex way. The part that does not surprise me however is that we knew we were related to primates in certain ways before. I find this topic very interesting and I hope more is discovered in the near future.
I really liked this article. Sometimes it seems like humans try their hardest to distance themselves from animals evolutionary. In History and Systems we learned about Des Cartes believing that the pineal gland was the key to why humans had emotions feelings and animals did not. Researchers have always tried to find the key as to why humans are different than animals, but this article points out some similarities.
I find this article to be interesting as well too because of how we as human try to distant ourselves away from animals so much. We say such things that animal don't have emotions or feelings and that they don't experience such emotions that we humans do. However I'm not surprised at all that primates show similar emotions about death that we humans do, because we have so many similarities to primates already. However I don't know how to feel, I'm torn between the facts of whether animals do feel emotions like us humans or not. Only time and more research will help us to solve or describe this controversy.
People find it hard to believe that animals such as chimps can have human like experiences because people often times believe that animals are in capable of feeling emotion or understand something so complex to have emotions. Many believe there is a fine line between them and animals but when we look at genetics and other features we can see that their is a possiblity that we alone do not just feel these emotions. This article and picture are just more proof of this.
To me, I don't find it surprising at all. The species of monkeys are the animal that comes the closet to the way humans function. We've been finding similarities between us for years now so to discover that they now mourn their young the way we do means that they are learning. They can learn a lot of the things we do and how we act. I think it changes a little about how we think of the man and beast concepts. We are not entirely separate species. Monkeys are learning more and more each day how to act like us. Do I believe that they will ever fully be just the way we are, no. But I think they'll come close.
It is surprising to humans that apes and themselves have similar experiences because we do not see this happening in everyday life with animals. Although this particular story is a monkey, I do not find it as surprising as compared to other animals. This helps reinforce the evolution theory that we descend from monkeys. Although the monkey is similar, it is easier to understand them because they used the same motions and have the same limbs and basic skeletal structure. It is easier to coorelate our expressions and movements with them vs. another mammal such as a whale. Any mammal mother does anything to check and take care of their young and puts more than enough effort and risk in her life to keep her young safe. Watching all that work lay there dead is obviously crushing for any mother. This example shows us that animals may not be as intellectual as us, but are not so far from us in emotions and how they express them. It is a good example of how close primates actually are to human beings in the emotion of worry, sadness, and mourning.
Personally it does not surprise me that chimps and other animals feel grief. Just like Harlows study proves that, like humans animals feel a need for being nurtured. The touch and emotions are all there they just cant express their feelings in human terms. Just as humans would be protective of their young, animals exhibit that parenting trait as well (besides the animals that eat their young which is usually either for survival or to continue darwins' social evolution). In the end to mess with peoples' minds, who is more like whom? are humans more like animals or are animals like humans? the chicken or the egg? which came first?
Humans are in the same category as certain animals; we are called mammals. Therefore it should not be surprising that we share similar characteristics since we are in a similar classification group. Although mammals refers to our way of reproducing or the fact that we have hair on our bodies, it doesn't mean that it can't venture a bit further. I feel that it is an animalistic type of similarity that animals feel grief for lost young. It may not be shown as strongly or in similar ways, but I am not surprised that it does happen.
At this point I am not surprised to find similarities between humans and apes. Being in my third year as a psychology student, I think that it will be mildly difficult, over the coming years to be both a psychologist and a believer in creationism. Hearing these comparisons however, doesn't bother me so much as it does interest me.
I think this talks about the continuum between man and beast because we do in fact have a lot in common with apes, as well as different aspects of other animals. This is just one more example of how man and beast can be similar, and another example of why comparative psychology is relevant in learning more about animals and ourselves.
It isn't really surprising that we have similar traits as apes, because it makes sense since they're the animal we are most closely related to. We have similar hands and feet, and it is becoming more common for apes to walk upright like us humans do.
As far the continuum of man and beast, I wouldn't be surprised if we begin to see more and more traits of humans in apes. I wouldn't go so far as to say they will start talking, but I also wouldn't put it past them in the future… possibly when we are all dead and gone from this earth.