Japanese researchers observe altruistic chimps

Hardly a “Scientific” study.

Um, do you know what a “scientific” study is?

1. Define the question
2. Gather information and resources (observe)
3. Form hypothesis
4. Perform experiment and collect data
5. Analyze data
6. Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis
7. Publish results
8. Retest (frequently done by other scientists)

Perhaps chimps pass ANYTHING from one to another.

Perhaps…but this was an experiment to see if chimps can share at all, not to see what kind of things they share.

Also, caps aren’t going to make your point any more effective, it just makes your post look ugly.

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Vonskippy,

You haven’t read the news article fron IBN Live?

The Institute reported that pairs of primates passed the items to each other 59 per cent of the time, even though the action did not benefit both of them.

Yamamoto noted that the passing of items occurred more often when a chimp appeared to make a request for the straw or stick.

In those instances, he said, transfers were made 75 per cent of the time.

They observed an increase of the opportunity for transfering objects on the presupposition that chimpanzees have an obvious tendency to pass the items to each other regardless of their benefit. There are no clear and direct indication that researchers actualy made a strong claim on “altruistic behaviour” of chimpanzees itself. The title of IBN Live’s article is perhaps misleading, it is not so surprising as this news site isn’t a scientific journal nor a magizine specialized in science news.

The above clip makes a clear conclusion too, but it is nothing but a small part of an evening news. To pick up and translate (literally) several important points from the above news clip:

1. The purpose of this research group is to make an investigation on how the cooperative society of human beings have been evolved.

2. They found an “empirical proof” that chimpanzees take an “action for helping” if they are requested by others, even when there are no recompense to them.

And additional points:

3. A chimpanzee had clapped his/her hands, maybe, to call and ask other chimpanzee to pass a stick. (This remark was made by a newscaster rather as her personal opinion. They probably touched on this to emphasize “action by request”)

4. This kind of action, so to speak “action for helping”, is said to be rarely proven empirically among the animals other than human beings.

It is not what scientists do to judge things solely based on a few short news article prepared and presented by non-specialists.