Science
Related: About this forumChimpanzees observed making fashion choices
By Ben Guarino
Its a trend thats taken a troop of chimpanzees by storm: a blade of grass dangling from an ear. The "grass-in-ear behavior," as scientists have termed it, seems to be one of the first times that chimpanzees have created a tradition with no discernible purpose -- a primate fashion statement, in other words.
Theres no doubt that chimpanzees have culture, as different chimp groups will use unique tools: to groom, to crack open nuts, to fish for termites.
But, according to a study in the journal Animal Cognition, chimpanzee culture now includes something that seems altogether arbitrary: ear accoutrements.
Our observation is quite unique in the sense that nothing seems to be communicated by it, says study author Edwin van Leeuwen, a primate expert at the Max Planck Institute in The Netherlands.
To figure out if this was really a tradition, and not just chimpanzees sticking grass in their ears at random, van Leeuwen and his colleagues spent a year observing four chimp groups in Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust, a sanctuary in Zambia. Only one troop performed the grass-in-ear behavior, although all of the chimps lived in the same grassy territory. Theres no genetic or ecological factors, the scientists believe, that would account for this behavior -- only culture.
more
https://www.thedodo.com/for-the-first-time-chimpanzees-605888880.html
LeftofObama
(4,243 posts)The next thing you know they'll be hanging out at the drug store drinking soda pop and listening to rock and roll records.
Put a stop to it now, I say!
shenmue
(38,506 posts)ladjf
(17,320 posts)hunter
(38,303 posts)I was a member of the one pierced ear and ponytail tribe for a long time.
But then my hair grew too thin for a ponytail and my parrots invented this game they thought was hilarious, of sneaking up on me pretending to want my company, and then suddenly stealing whatever ear decoration I was wearing, often in painful ways.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)and this is what it looks like to them...
greiner3
(5,214 posts)Everyone needs to accessorise.
progressoid
(49,951 posts)All the fashionable chimps are wearing leaves in their ears now.