Researchers have found that Chimpanzees show each other objects just for the sake of it.
Even young humans like to point out things to other people. Previously, it was thought that this behavior only happens in our species.
Researchers claim to have found an instance of a chimp showing her mother something.
She isn't giving it to people for food. Her mother doesn't want to do anything. The co-author of the study said that she wanted them to look at it together and be happy.
Even close relatives of humans, such as great apes, were thought only to gesture to objects for specific purposes, according to a research paper.
Sometimes when they are grooming in this community of Chimpanzees, they scratch a specific location on their body to indicate that they want you to groom them here. It means 'Give me that' if they have their hands out.
While studying the Ngogo community in the Kibale national park, Uganda, a group of people captured video of a female Chimpanzees grooming a leaf.
She held the leaf out to her mom, who was sitting next to her. The team suggests that if she didn't see her mother's reaction, she thrust the leaf further forwards.
Each time, she puts it closer and closer to her mother.
After moving both her eyes and head towards the foliage,Fiona took the leaf and continued to groom it.
The researchers looked at 84 video clips of Chimpanzees in the Ngogo and Kanyawara communities that were seen grooming leaves near someone else.
While a leaf was watched by a Chimpanzees and an onlooker at the same time, they did not eat it.
Only five of 58 clips captured a Chimpanzees behavior before and after leaf-grooming.
According to the team, it's likely thatFiona wasn't looking for another activity and didn't offer food. She wanted to show her mom the leaf.
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The observation was described as remarkable by Prof Frans de Waal.
It's not the first time that we've seen a suggestion that Chimpanzees might teach others new information, but this is the best documented case.
Chimpanzees and other apes understand that other individuals gather information the way they do themselves and are willing to share it with others.
She hopes that experts will look for similar examples, or even find them in previously collected footage.
She said that questions are still unanswered.
She said that the last common Ancestor with Chimpanzees probably did this occasionally. We need to know what the selection pressure was to increase our motivation to do this more.
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