Primate Behavior: Chimpanzees Essay

Million years ago, it is believed that the chimpanzees, unable to construct technology that makes migration possible, have remained marooned for more than five million years in a small corner of Africa. The popular assumption of a closeness between human and chimpanzee intelligence is that the fact that the brain of the chimpanzee has remained at about 500 cc while that of the human has advanced to about 1300 cc. Chimpanzee as believed is our closest relative, yet the human brain is more than two and a half time larger than that of a chimpanzee, a human intelligence is a thing part. The wild chimpanzee teaches it’s young very little. But does the young chimpanzee suffer? No. For everything the parent does the young chimpanzee learns to do itself, without parental training. Even the most complex acts of the adult chimpanzee –nut cracking, termite fishing, water sponging – do not depend on parental assistance. A chimpanzee mother allows her infant to eat the nuts she has cracked; she tolerates her infant as it leans heavily on her while she is busy doing her task; but she never turns away from her own successful nut cracking to watch the efforts of her infant. Although the chimpanzee mother does not assist her infant by acting as a watchful pedagogue, the manner of motivation is taken place by the repeating observation of her infant. In other words, by watching its mother, the infant â€Å"get hooked† on the problem and thus, as a result solving problem made easy. While these acts do not occur in all chimpanzees, they are nevertheless species-specific acts which all chimpanzees have a potential. With respect to temperament and sex behavior, bonobo and chimpanzee have no serious comparison in their cognitive performances. Copulation in bonobo acts in various positions whereas chimpanzee copulation is dorso-ventral position. This difference sometimes taken to indicate a lack of imagination on the part of the male chimpanzee is due to an anatomical difference . The sex skin of the female chimpanzee makes ventral-ventral copulation impossible, whereas the sex skin of the bonobo can accommodate all sexual connections. Bonobos are easier to work with and far less aggressive than chimpanzees. Sexual activity in the bonobo is not confined to adult heterosexual pairs but is commonly engaged in between adult and child, female and female etc. Bonobos are far less aggressive than chimpanzees, and thus are easier to work with. In conclusion, primate behavior can be compared with human behavior, a close one. Evolution as some books say, chimpanzees are our early relatives. Footprints show that they left evidence of closeness, a study wherein we have common ancestors.