Kinda like opposable thumbs and tool use, for a minute there scientists thought that altruism was a distinguishing mark separating humans from chimps, because chimpanzees in captivity were rarely very nice towards chimps outside their own group. That minute is over: a study published in PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science, an online science journal anyone can read fo' FREE) by some researchers in Germany and Cote d'Ivoire says they've found chimps in the wild who display very altruistic behavior towards other chimps. And this isn't like scratching some stranger's back -- apparently the chimps adopted baby chimps that weren't even theirs! That's a big deal, because it isn't easy to raise and feed a baby. This brings up some interesting questions about altruism and whether it's favored by evolution in primates. Hmmmmm.
Here's the article: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0008901
MadCog
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