HONG KONG: A study of the chimpanzees of the Ugandan rainforest has found that the immature males and the females have very different play behaviours, with the males spending far more time manipulating objects, either as tools or just for fun.
This is particularly surprising as, among the adults, it is the females who use tools the most. The researchers, writing in the online journal Plos One, said that the findings could point to a deeper truth about the behaviour of primates — including humans — and the way the different sexes prepare for adult life.
“We had this expectation that females would do more object manipulation to prepare them for tool use in later life,” said Kathelijne Koops, who did the research while at the universities of Cambridge and Zurich.
She spent three months in Uganda observing chimps in the wild and recording how long they spent fiddling with objects found in the forest such as sticks and leaves.
“At first, we were like, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ Then when we looked in detail at what they were doing, it turns out most of the male use of objects was in play — rough and tumble, chasing each other with sticks or a bunch of leaves. In females it was a more goal-directed way,” she said. “They were exploring, breaking and carrying things. So in males it was seemingly not in preparation for tool use, and more about practising motor skills, for displays or perhaps linked to hunting.”
Studies in the past have shown that boys as young as three are more likely to enjoy playing with toys that involve problem solving using tools. However, there is considerable controversy as to whether the gender differences in play are cultural, with boys being expected to play with traditionally masculine toys such as train sets and guns and girls pushed more towards toys such as dolls, or whether it reflects something innate.
Recent research looked at the behaviour of our closest relatives to help to address this. In one notable experiment, rhesus monkeys were given toy dumper trucks and dolls. While the females played with both toys equally, the males had a strong preference for trucks, objects with no apparent cultural resonance for rhesus monkeys.
“When I was reading up on human literature, it struck me there is often a male bias reported for object manipulation in kids,” Dr Koops said. “There is a question about human studies — is it really ‘boys and toys’ we are seeing, or is it boys doing male display-type things?”
In other words, when boys run around with toy swords or other similar objects, is it just play or preparation for more serious fights for dominance?
Tesla driverless system to use updated radar technology
WASHINGTON: Electric carmaker Tesla announced Sunday it was upgrading its Autopilot software to use more advanced radar technology. In a...
