Article

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) strategically manipulate their environment to deny conspecifics access to food

Details

Citation

Kaufhold SP, Sánchez-Amaro A, Tan J, Fernandez-Navarro S, Atencia R & Rossano F (2024) Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) strategically manipulate their environment to deny conspecifics access to food. Sanchez Amaro A (Researcher) Scientific Reports, 14 (1), Art. No.: 17579. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-68159-3

Abstract
Humans modify their environment to grant or prevent others’ access to valuable resources, for example by using locks. We tested whether sanctuary-living chimpanzees (N = 10) would flexibly modify their environment to either allow or deny a dominant conspecific access to a shared food source by giving them the option to change a food reward’s pathway prior to releasing it. The food could end up in one of two locations: one was accessible to both the subject and a dominant conspecific, the other one was only accessible to the subject. We further manipulated the extent of inhibitory control needed for modifying the pathway by varying the subjects’ starting position. Our subjects reoriented the pathway competitively to monopolize food but changed the pathway less often in trials with high inhibitory demands. We further show how inhibitory task demands in a social context influence chimpanzees’ future planning. Our results show that chimpanzees will strategically manipulate their environment to maximize their own and deny a dominant conspecific access to food.

Keywords
Animals; Behavior; Animal; Feeding Behavior; Female; Food; Male; Pan troglodytes; Reward; Social Behavior

Journal
Scientific Reports: Volume 14, Issue 1

StatusPublished
ContributorDr Alejandro Sanchez Amaro
Publication date31/07/2024
Publication date online31/07/2024
Date accepted by journal22/07/2024
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC

People (1)

Dr Alejandro Sanchez Amaro

Dr Alejandro Sanchez Amaro

Lecturer in Psychology, Psychology