Why do dogs smile and chimpanzees cry?

[misskitty]

was a show that I watched last night on how humans attribute emotional characteristics to animals. In the show they featured a segment about a chimpanzee who was taught sign language to communicate with humans. This isn't something new and many of us have heard about it. However, what I did think was interesting was the chimp they taught ASL to taught her adopted son how to communicate using it. She did this without reward from the scientists. As I watched this I started to wonder why was she teaching him this? At first I thought it might have just been the observational learning skills of the baby, but the mother taught the infant. Any thoughts?

~Kitty

 

[matthyaouw]

"Many scientists have announced proudly that they have taught a chimp a human language. One has to wonder why not one scientist yet has managed to learn chimp"

(I forget the exact wording of that quote, and to whom it is attributed, but it seemed almost relevant.)

 

[misskitty]

I haven't heard that quote before. Why would the mother teach the infant ASL in addition to their natural method of communication?

~Kitty

 

[selfAdjoint]

I haven't heard that quote before. Why would the mother teach the infant ASL in addition to their natural method of communication?

~Kitty

Maybe because it was superior, from the chimp point of view, to their normal mode of communication? It doesn't follow, you know, that because it was better the chimps would automatically develop it them selves. Many of us find the music of Mozart or the Beatles better than what we could do ourselves.

 

[JustStuit]

It's natural to teach your kids what you know - maybe she was just trying to teach the baby things that she had learned.

 

[misskitty]

This is true. SA brings up a good question of why didn't they develop it themselves if it is superior? They have demonstrated the brain capacity is there.

~Kitty

 

[Phobos]

"Superior"? Perhaps. But in the wild, their current form of communication works very well for them. But hey, with humans intruding into their habitat more and more, perhaps ASL offers a new advantage to chimps.

 

[Phobos]

It's natural to teach your kids what you know - maybe she was just trying to teach the baby things that she had learned.

A different chimp documentary (about, not by ) I saw reported that different chimp groups have something like different cultures (different knowledge passed down from parents to offspring...like termite fishing with blades of grass in some groups). It may just be chimp behavior to teach whatever they know, particularly if it provides a reward (like getting food from lab scientists).

 

[misskitty]

I didn't mean superior as in it would work way better for them. I'm sorry if it came off that way. For us verbal and sign language is superior than grunting like chimps. I do agree with your statement about humans intruding in their lives.

~Kitty

 

[selfAdjoint]

I don't think we can find the answer to MissKitty's question off the top of our heads. It's like attributing motives to other people. Since the chimpanzee in question can sign, why don't we ask her? Anyone here know ASL?

 

[Mk]

I was going to reply in ASL but then realized you wouldn't understand it. And it would not go well through this little box.

 

[Ouabache]

Speaking of smart chimps... I recently heard on NPR, they will try to assist even without getting a direct reward. For example if we dropped a sponge, they would pick it up and offer it back, suggesting an innate behavior of cooperation.

Here is a NY Times quote and article on this reference .

One of the hallmarks of being human is cooperation. No other primate exhibits the same kind of helpfulness to others...and scientists have wondered how far back in evolution this trait goes.

New studies on chimpanzees suggest that this part of human nature may have already existed millions of years ago, perhaps before the human and ape lineages divided.

Here is the http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/311/5765/1248?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Dr.+Hare+chimps+cooperation&searchid=1141953155672_20370&FIRSTINDEX=0&journalcode=sci to the original paper in Science, Who Are More Helpful, Humans or Chimpanzees? by Joan B. Silk, 3 March 2006, Vol. 311. no. 5765, pp. 1248 - 1249.

 

[misskitty]

I know a bit of ASL. OUabache, that's pretty cool.

~Kitty

 

[Phobos]

Anyone here know ASL?

I know some...I used to be good at it but now I'm a bit rusty. Perhaps the chimp can teach me.

 

[misskitty]

She probably could.

~Kitty