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A Japanese study of a chimpanzee mother caring for her disabled infant in the wild has shed light on how humans developed their social behavior.
The first-of-its-kind study by a team of Kyoto University researchers was published Monday in the online edition of Primates, an international journal of primatology.
Born in January 2011 in a chimpanzee group in Tanzania’s Mahale Mountains National Park, the female infant was “severely disabled,” exhibiting “symptoms resembling Down syndrome,” according to a summary of the team’s findings.
The researchers said there have been only a few case studies of congenitally disabled chimpanzee infants and no reports examining how a chimpanzee mother in the wild copes with a disabled infant.
Michio Nakamura, an associate professor at Kyoto University’s Wildlife Research Center who was involved in the study, told The Japan Times on Tuesday that the research could help solve the riddle of how humans evolved into social animals.
“One characteristic of human society is that people reasonably take care of the disabled and those in vulnerable positions,” Nakamura said. “It’s interesting to observe a chimpanzee looking after a disabled infant in terms of finding out when such sociality occurs, as they are the closest modern species to humans.”
Nakamura noted the infant chimpanzee exhibited what appeared to be several disabilities, including a lump on her belly, apparent damage to her spine and hyperdactylism in the form of a sixth finger on her left hand.
www.japantimes.co.jp
The first-of-its-kind study by a team of Kyoto University researchers was published Monday in the online edition of Primates, an international journal of primatology.
Born in January 2011 in a chimpanzee group in Tanzania’s Mahale Mountains National Park, the female infant was “severely disabled,” exhibiting “symptoms resembling Down syndrome,” according to a summary of the team’s findings.
The researchers said there have been only a few case studies of congenitally disabled chimpanzee infants and no reports examining how a chimpanzee mother in the wild copes with a disabled infant.
Michio Nakamura, an associate professor at Kyoto University’s Wildlife Research Center who was involved in the study, told The Japan Times on Tuesday that the research could help solve the riddle of how humans evolved into social animals.
“One characteristic of human society is that people reasonably take care of the disabled and those in vulnerable positions,” Nakamura said. “It’s interesting to observe a chimpanzee looking after a disabled infant in terms of finding out when such sociality occurs, as they are the closest modern species to humans.”
Nakamura noted the infant chimpanzee exhibited what appeared to be several disabilities, including a lump on her belly, apparent damage to her spine and hyperdactylism in the form of a sixth finger on her left hand.
In first, Japanese researchers observe chimp mother and sister caring for disabled infant
A Japanese study of a chimpanzee mother caring for her disabled infant in the wild has shed light on how humans developed their social behavior.
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