The Altruistic Primate By V. M. de Malar
It's hard to believe, after the shocking and disgraceful violence and looting in Sanvordem, but we human beings are scientifically recognized as uniquely co- operative and altruistic creatures. No other primate exhibits the same degree of collective-minded behavior, the same kind of pure helpfulness. Academics have wondered about the origins of these human traits for a long time, whether there were any parallels in our closest biological relatives. Everyone who has spent time watching monkeys, especially greater primates which are close to man, suspected the answer was yes, but until now there was no proof. In the latest issue of the international journal, 'Science', however, we start to get a scientific resolution. Like countless laymen, the featured researchers believe that they have found altruistic and co-operative behaviour in primate subjects, their findings imply that this aspect of human behaviour existed millions of years ago, and quite possibly emerged before human and ape lineages branched in different directions. Not surprisingly, the greatest behavioral congruence with humans is displayed by the chimpanzee, the African ape whose DNA differs less than 5 percent from our own genetic code. Dr. Alicia Melis of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and her team of colleagues, tested a group of chimpanzees in a sanctuary in Uganda, seeking to analyze degree and nature of cooperation. They placed a food tray behind bars, and set up a loop of rope so two apes had to pull on both ends simultaneously in order to access the treats. But only one ape was released as subject, with another behind a locked door in an adjacent room. If the chimp pulled on the rope, it would slip the loop and it would get nothing. But if it unlocked the door that constrained its companion, and both cooperated to pull the rope at the same time, both would get the food they craved. Melis says, "not only did they need to know when they needed help, they had to go out and get it. Then they had to wait until their partner came in and pull on the rope at the same time. The chimps really had to understand why they needed their partner." The results of this experiment were more definitive than expected; the apes immediately exhibited recognition of the problem, they immediately sought help from other chimpanzees when it was required. And, quite remarkably, the individual apes quickly figured out which chimps were most cooperative and helpful, and chose their partners accordingly. This experiment may seem humble and basic but its implications are profound, it is nothing less than the very first scientific glimpse of what we could call reasoned cooperative understanding outside our own species. The findings become even more interesting when paired with results of another experiment at the same German institute. Dr. Felix Warneken executed a study comparing altruism (the willingness to help without expectation of reward) in 18th month old human children and juvenile chimpanzees. As one might expect, the apes were less helpful in relatively complicated tasks. But in simple tests, like picking up a dropped pencil, scientists found that the chimpanzees very readily came to the aid of human beings. Warneken was amazed, "this is the first experiment showing altruistic helping towards goals in any nonhuman primate. It's been claimed chimpanzees act mainly for their own ends, but in our experiment there was no reward and they still helped." The papers in 'Science' offer an intriguing plausible scenario for the evolution of traits (cooperation, altruism) we had presumed were exclusive human attributes. They posit the possibility that these are inherited from our common ancestor, which walked the earth six million years ago. They illuminate the genesis of what Warneken calls "pro-social motivation," the desire to contribute and be part of community. It's recognized as a basic human need, and we're now learning that our ape relatives have the same urge. Unfortunately, there's another side to it, other answers to the same question that reveal humans (and apes) cooperating to wage violence, to shun outsiders, to form killing mobs. There's the same genetic component to all of that too, but you don't need to look it up in 'Science', just scan the front page of this newspaper. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The above article appeared in the March 7, 2006 edition of the Herald, Goa --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE AUTHOR: VM is an early Goanetter, who put his money where his mouth is and returned to settle-down in Goa in late 2004, while in his thirties. VM regularly writes for the Goa and Mumbai media. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
