Chimpanzees in Uganda are locked in a deadly 'civil war' after their group split apart — and scientists don't know why - Live Science

A group of chimpanzees feeding together in a natural forest environment on Ngamba Island, Uganda. How likely is a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) to steal food from another chimp? It depends on whether they’re a friend or a foe. A team of biologists discovered that chimps pilfer less from their friends, and that the relationship between the victim and the thief influenced the emotional display of both parties. The findings are described in a study recently published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

Researchers show how western chimpanzees in Senegal give stick tools and baobab fruit to each other. This transfer was typically between relatives, especially by mothers to their immature offspring. The authors present and analyze unique footage of two occasions on which adults – a mother and a juvenile male – displayed complex and previously undescribed behavior involving demonstration followed by the transfer of objects to infants, with the apparently deliberate aim to teach technological behaviors to the latter. Both of these teaching instances were successful, in that the receiving infants successfully copied the actions. Two-thirds of a century after Jane Goodall observed ‘David Greybeard’ break off a twig to fashion a fishing rod for termites, researchers following in her footsteps have found that adult chimpanzees in Senegal literally hand youngsters the tools for learning. Darwin noted in 1871 that chimpanzees use stones to crack nuts, striking a blow to human hubris. Over the 20th century, a select few animals as diverse as octopuses and parrots have been observed making and using tools.