Fiona plucks a leaf from a branch and brings it close to her mouth. Thinking better of it, she then shows the leaf to her mother, who gazes at it for a short moment before turning away. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for your everyday nature aficionados — except that Fiona and her mother, Sutherland, are two adult chimpanzees residing in the Kibale Forest of Uganda.
Researchers who observed the interaction have dubbed it the first instance of a non-human primate sharing something with a peer simply for the sake of sharing. Their findings, published in PNAS this month, dispel the myth that only humans are capable of grabbing another’s attention solely to share a discovery or remark on an experience.
