KYOTO, Japan, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Japanese researchers question the notion altruism in mammals is rooted in the expectation of long-term benefits.
Shinya Yamamoto and colleagues at the Primate Research Institute and the Wildlife Research Center of Kyoto University in Japan found chimpanzees do help each other without benefit -- but mostly on request.
The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, tested whether the chimpanzees would transfer a tool to a chimp in an adjacent booth even if doing so would bring no immediate benefit to themselves.
In these experiments, the chimpanzee needed access to a straw to drink an available juice box. In the another situation, the chimpanzee needed access to a stick to drag a juice reward back into the booth.
"Communicative interactions play an important role in altruism in chimpanzees," Yamamoto said in a statement.
"While humans may help others without being solicited, the chimpanzees rarely voluntarily offered an effective tool to a struggling partner. Indeed, simple observation of another's failed attempts did not elicit voluntary helping in chimpanzees."
