Chimpanzees show others cool things they see, researchers say

When you find something cool or funny do you show it to your friends and family? Well you're not alone - it looks like chimpanzees do it too!

That urge you get to share something you like with another person, just for the sake of it and having them say "yep, that's pretty cool", is something that has up until recently been thought to be a uniquely human trait.

But scientists have filmed a chimpanzee in Uganda showing a leaf to her mum, with no clear reason other than to simply share in the excitement.

Prof Katie Slocombe of the University of York, a co-author of the study had been watching the chimp, who is called Fiona, and said: "She's not offering it for food. She doesn't want her mum to do anything.

"She just wants them to look at it together, and be like 'Oh, cool, nice!'"

The researchers have said that it shows chimpanzees like to share experiences with each other and comment on the world around them, just as we humans do.

Lead author of the study Dr Claudia Wilke from the Department of Psychology, at the University of York said: "People love sharing experiences with each other - social media capitalises on this trait, and even in our first year of life we start to show others interesting things we've found."

Fiona was filmed presenting the leaf to her mum Sutherland in Kibale Forest, Uganda.

She's seen holding the leaf out in front of her mother's face, and Sutherland glances at it - but apparently not satisfied with the response, Fiona thrusts the leaf closer to her mum's face.

The team of researchers originally wondered if the behaviour could be part of "leaf grooming". This is when a monkey or ape will fiddle with and closely inspect a leaf, after they've been grooming themselves or another chimp.

Another theory they had was that Fiona was trying to get her mum's attention to play.

To check this, the team watched back 84 clips of the chimpanzee community in the forest looking at leaves, and in only five clips were the animals were seen playing after examining a leaf.

In the case of Fiona and Sutherland there was no evidence that their interaction tended to lead to play or more grooming, so they concluded that particular chimp likely wasn't trying to initiate either activity by showing her mum the leaf.

The scientists involved in the study say it could change how we view the human mind, and what makes it unique.

But others think there needs to be more evidence is needed to support the claim, and have called for other chimpanzee researchers to look more closely for similar behaviours in the chimps they are studying to see if something similar ever happens again.