Cyberchimps Project

Empirical Evidence and Assumptions

John. F Marlowe

Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Yorke´s Institute, Department of Anthropology, University of Northern Oregon. Marlowe is a member of several Science and Psychological Associations, including the American Psychological Association and the National Academy of Arts & Sciences. He is a national lecturer and also a consultant to the Navy's Scientific Advisory Panel. During his career, he was recognized with several distinctions, including: Howard Warren Medal (1983), National Medal of Science (1991), and Gold Medal from the American Psychological Foundation (1993). Much of his primate research regarding social separation, affection, attachment, love, learning, and early life behaviors was published (1998). The present paper was submitted 12 VI 97 and accepted 11 IX 97.

As our closest living relatives, chimpanzees have been widely used as models of the behavior of early hominids. In recent years, as information on the social behavior and ecology of chimpanzees has come to light, many interspecific comparisons have been made. Chimpanzees have been characterized in terms of their intercommunity warfare, meat eating, infanticide, cannibalism, male status-striving, and dominance over females. This project evaluates the adaptation of chimpanzees to symbolic language and to the use of social networks, thanks to a specially designed software by Dr. Mike Prompton and his programmers' crew at the Northern Oregon University. The four chimps under research were taught a simplified version of ASL (American Sign Language) containing approximately 1000 signs, applied to the main features of the social network Facebook.

Our aim was to achieve empirical evidence of parallelisms between human and ape social “virtual” behavior. This paper evaluates the evidence for this dichotomy and considers the reasons that contrasting portrayals of both have developed. While there are marked differences in social behavior between these two species, I argue that they are more similar behaviorally than most accounts have suggested. I discuss several reasons that current views of human and chimpanzee societies may not accord well with field data. Among these are a bias toward captive data on chimps, the tendency to see them as derived because their behavior has been described more recently than that of humans, and the possibility that interpretations of human-chimpanzee differences are reflections of human male-female differences.

This paper was originally prepared for the Weenner-Gran Foundation Conference “Changing Images of Primate Societies”, June 15–22, 2006, in Minneapolis. I am grateful to the Foundation and to the organizers, Shirley Sinks and Linda Pedigan, for their invitation to participate. I thank the other participants for their constructive comments on an earlier version of the manuscript, especially Dave Byrne, Sarah Hurdy, Ailleen Jolly, Kareen Strier, Robert Sobman, and Hiroyuki Takakasaki. Bela Boehm, William McGraw, Jim Jones, and two anonymous reviewers also read and improved the paper. Research on Gombe chimpanzees was supported from 1990 to 1995 by the National Geographic Society, the Albright Foundation, the L. B. Leakey Foundation, and the University of Northern Oregon. Research clearance was granted by the Tanzanian Commission for Science and Technology, Tanganika National Parks, and the Serengeti Wildlife Research Institute.

Cited by

Ken Sayers and C. Owen Lovejoy. (2008) The Chimpanzee Has No Clothes: A Critical Examination of Pan troglodytes in Models of Human Evolution. Current Anthropology 49:1, 87-114 Online publication date: 1-Feb-2008.
Abstract-Full Text-PDF Version (332 kB)

Jeroen M. G.Stevens,HildeVervaecke,HanVries,LindaElsacker. (2008) Sex Differences in the Steepness of Dominance Hierarchies in Captive Bonobo Groups. International Journal of Primatology 28:6, 1417-1430
Online publication date: 1-Jan-2008.
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Frances J.White,Kimberley D.Wood. (2007) Female feeding priority in bonobos,Pan paniscus, and the question of female dominance. American Journal of Primatology 69:8, 837-850
Online publication date: 1-Sep-2007.
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David P.Watts. (2007) Effects of male group size, parity, and cycle stage on female chimpanzee copulation rates at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda. Primates 48:3, 222-231
Online publication date: 18-Jul-2007.
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Nicholas E.Newton-Fisher. (2007) Female Coalitions Against Male Aggression in Wild Chimpanzees of the Budongo Forest. International Journal of Primatology 27:6, 1589-1599
Online publication date: 12-Jan-2007.
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Filippo Aureli, Colleen M.Schaffner, JanVerpooten,KathrynSlater,GabrielRamos-Fernandez. (2007) Raiding parties of male spider monkeys: Insights into human warfare?. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 131:4, 486-497
Online publication date: 1-Jan-2007.
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Mieke Lathouwers, Linda Elsacker. (2006) Comparing infant and juvenile behavior in bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): a preliminary study. Primates 47:4, 287-293
Online publication date: 17-Nov-2006.
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Jeroen M. G.Stevens, Hilde Vervaecke, Han Vries, Linda Elsacker. (2006) Social structures in Pan paniscus: testing the female bonding hypothesis. Primates 47:3, 210-217
Online publication date: 1-Aug-2006.
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T.Paoli, E. Palagi, G. Tacconi, S. Borgognini Tarli. (2006) Perineal swelling, intermenstrual cycle, and female sexual behavior in bonobos (Pan paniscus). American Journal of Primatology 68:4, 333-347
Online publication date: 1-May-2006.
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JulianeBräuer, JosepCall, MichaelTomasello. (2005) All Great Ape Species Follow Gaze to Distant Locations and Around Barriers.. Journal of Comparative Psychology 119:2, 145-154
Online publication date: 1-Feb-2005.
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Mieke De Lathouwers, Linda Van Elsacker. (2005) Comparing maternal styles in bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). American Journal of Primatology 64:4, 411-423
Online publication date: 1-Jan-2005.
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J. Eriksson, G.Hohmann, C. Boesch, L. Vigilant. (2004) Rivers influence the population genetic structure of bonobos (Pan paniscus). Molecular Ecology 13:11, 3425-3435 Online publication date: 1-Dec-2004.
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Adinda Sannen, Linda Van Elsacker, MichaelHeistermann, MarcelEens. (2004) Urinary testosterone metabolite levels and aggressive behaviors in male and female bonobos(Pan paniscus). Aggressive Behavior 30:5, 425-434
Online publication date: 1-Nov-2004.
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Michael L. Wilson, Richard W. Wrangham. (2003) INTERGROUP RELATIONS IN CHIMPANZEES. Annual Review of Anthropology 32:1, 363-392
Online publication date: 1-Nov-2003.
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Charlotte K. Hemelrijk. (2002) Self-organizing properties of primate social behavior: A hypothesis for intersexual rank overlap in chimpanzees and bonobos. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 11:S1, 91-94
Online publication date: 1-Feb-2002.
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Elaine N. Videan, W.C. McGrew. (2001) Are bonobos (Pan paniscus) really more bipedal than chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)?. American Journal of Primatology 54:4, 233-239
Online publication date: 1-Sep-2001.
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Richard W. Wrangham. (1999) Evolution of coalitionary killing. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 110:s29, 1.
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