Human caregivers are integrated social partners for captive chimpanzees

Funkhouser, Jake A.; Mayhew, Jessica A.; Mulcahy, John B.; Sheeran, Lori K.

doi:10.1007/s10329-020-00867-6

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…A recent study indicated that caregivers may provide additional opportunities for captive chimpanzees to establish and maintain meaningful social relationships [60]. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first study to suggest ignoring the physical barrier of the enclosure when evaluating the chimpanzees' social networks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…It was con-cluded that although chimpanzees of neighboring groups could neither physically interact nor see each other, they were stimulated and influenced by the vocalizations of close-by conspecifics (social contagion). Interestingly, Funkhouser et al [60] suggested that even human caregivers should be considered potential social partners, and found caregivers can provide additional opportunities (beyond those with conspecifics) to establish and maintain meaningful social relationships. These studies successfully demonstrated that chimpanzee's social networks are not necessarily limited to group members, nor were they fully restricted by the enclosures' physical constraints.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neighbors Matter: An Investigation into Intergroup Interactions Affecting the Social Networks of Adjacent Chimpanzee Groups

Gil-Dolz,

Riba,

Crailsheim

2023

Ecologies

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Wild chimpanzees live in large and complex social communities, but their complexity is determined by the number of potential social partners as well as the frequent changes in group composition due to fission–fusion dynamics. Alternatively, captive housed chimpanzee groups are usually much smaller and less complex. However, studies have shown that groups can be housed in adjacent habitats, potentially increasing the number of social partners, i.e., granting additional relationship opportunities and enhanced social complexity. While most social network studies analyze social groups as closed systems, this study assessed the impact of social interactions between two neighboring groups of chimpanzees, based on two social network indices (Vertex strength centrality and Deviation from edge weight disparity). Furthermore, Linear Mixed Models (LMMs) were employed to assess whether gender, age, and intra-/intergroup directionality influenced these indices. We recorded occurrences of social behaviors, social proximity and whether chimpanzees observed individuals in the other group as a measure of interest. Most social behaviors were directed towards group members; however, 13% were directed towards the neighboring group. Although enclosure barriers constrained the chimpanzee’s capacity to physically interact, it does not necessarily impede social interactions with the outside world. Hence, the presence of neighboring chimpanzees potentially provides additional relationship opportunities, increasing social stimulation and complexity leading to an enriching social environment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neighbors Matter: An Investigation into Intergroup Interactions Affecting the Social Networks of Adjacent Chimpanzee Groups

Gil-Dolz,

Riba,

Crailsheim

2023

Ecologies

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“…This is most obvious in the case of "enculturated" apes, like those involved in ape language studies, raised in multi-species groups (Fouts 1998). But, multi-species cultures may exist in more subtle ways, across all sorts of captive settings from sanctuaries to psychological research labs (see, e.g., Funkhouser et al 2021). This brings us to our key point: we take for granted in the case of human beings that without seeking to understand the cultural practices of a particular group of individuals, we will have no idea who they are and what they need to flourish.…”

Section: Culture and Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is most obvious in the case of "enculturated" apes, like those involved in ape language studies, raised in multispecies groups (Fouts 1998). But multispecies cultures may exist in more subtle ways, across all sorts of captive settings from sanctuaries to psychological research labs (see, e.g., Funkhouser et al 2021).…”

Section: Culture and Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%

Animal Culture and Animal Welfare

Fitzpatrick

Andrews²

2022

Philos. sci.

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Following recent arguments that cultural practices in wild animal populations have important conservation implications, we argue that recognizing captive animals as cultural has important welfare implications. Having a culture is of deep importance for cultural animals, wherever they live. Without understanding the cultural capacities of captive animals, we will be left with a deeply impoverished view of what they need to flourish. Best practices for welfare should therefore require concern for animals’ cultural needs, but the relationship between culture and welfare is also extremely complex, requiring us to rethink standard assumptions about what constitutes and contributes to welfare.

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“…In addition, Michaelson et al (2013) showed that in an ITC task, human adult participants chose the smaller-sooner rewards more often when choice alternatives were presented as if offered by a character perceived as untrustworthy. Those issues should be considered when designing ITC tasks, especially for those species that can develop relationships with humans, such as captive chimpanzees (e.g., Funkhouser et al, 2020). Previously Beran and Evans (2006) implemented a computerized setting and directly examined whether the presence of a human experimenter affects chimpanzee performances in accumulation tasks.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Computerized intertemporal choice task in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) with/without postreward delay.

Sato¹,

Sakai²,

Hirata³

2021

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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In intertemporal choice (ITC) tasks, animals are presented with alternative choices between a smaller reward that becomes available sooner and a larger reward that becomes available later. To equate the duration of a trial across the 2 options, postreward delays (PRDs) are inserted after the delivery of the reward. Animals need to incorporate this to increase the long-term reward rate. However, recent studies suggest that they have difficulty understanding the contingency associated with PRDs. Previous research indicates that chimpanzees exhibit particularly great self-control in ITC tasks, but it remains unclear whether chimpanzees do so when considering PRDs. Therefore, we used touchscreen experiments to explore chimpanzee intertemporal preferences when trial duration was equated by a PRD as well as when the PRD was eliminated. The computerized setting was used to try to control delay length flexibly and precisely while reducing the impact of the interaction with human experimenters. Moreover, choice options were presented on touchscreens using symbolic cues. This may reduce the impact of seeing food rewards on making a choice (i.e., the animals' robust tendency to reach for the larger amount of food). In an ITC task in which the trial duration was equated, 4 chimpanzees preferred larger rewards but chose smaller rewards more often when the ratio of the reward amount was smaller. In an ITC task with no PRDs, 2 of 4 chimpanzees did switch their preference to smaller rewards and enhanced the reward rate although this result should be interpreted in light of some methodological limitations.

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Human caregivers are integrated social partners for captive chimpanzees

Cited by 9 publications

References 32 publications

Neighbors Matter: An Investigation into Intergroup Interactions Affecting the Social Networks of Adjacent Chimpanzee Groups

Neighbors Matter: An Investigation into Intergroup Interactions Affecting the Social Networks of Adjacent Chimpanzee Groups

Animal Culture and Animal Welfare

Computerized intertemporal choice task in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) with/without postreward delay.

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