Chimpanzee behavior

Struthers, E. J. and Campbell, J. (1996) Scent-specific behavioral response to olfactory enrichment in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Presented at the XVIth Congress of the International Primatological Society and the XIXth Conference of the American Society of Primatology, Wisconsin. 

Goodall, J. (1986). The Chimpanzees of Gombe Behavior patterns. Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press. 

Paquette, D. (1994). Fighting and playfighting in captive adolescent chimpanzees. Aggressive Behavior, 20, 49-65. 

At first glance, it may seem unlikely that chimpanzees premeditatively use such plants. However, no specific knowledge about the plant need be assumed in the chimpanzees for them to use it. From a behavioral standpoint, they would only need to ingest the plant and experience some... 

In this respect, the human use of plants with various incorrect rationales (e.g., the doctrine of signatures) is not much different than the chimpanzee use of AspHia an accurate knowledge of how the treatment works is not necessary for plant-use to be behaviorally reinforced and maintained. Human knowledge about the therapeutic uses of plants has accumulated through the millennia by trial and error. Our explanations have been secondary. 

Wrangham, R. W. and Nishida, T. (1983). Aspilia spp. leaves a puzzle in the feeding behavior of wild chimpanzees. Primates 24,276-282. 

Gillan, D. J. (1981). Reasoning in chimpanzees II transitive inference. Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior Processes, 7, 150-164. 

Goodall J 1986 The chimpanzees of Gombe patterns of behavior. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA... 

Unfortunately, for the development of the human brain, this question can be addressed only indirectly—from animal experiments and by deduction. But even animal experiments are problematic because it s not always clear how measurements of animal behavior have any serious meaning for measurements of human behavior. An animal, even a chimpanzee, is not just a simplified human being exhibiting simplified human behavior. Deduction, on the other hand, gives us a clearer answer It stands to reason that clinical observations of the effects of brain-development aberrations are the proverbial tip of the iceberg—with an entire universe of subclinical differences, variations, and developmental aberrations that we have no means yet to measure. 

Krief S, Martin M T, Grellier P, et al. (2004). Novel antimalarial compounds isolated in a survey of self-medicative behavior of wild chimpanzees in Uganda. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 48 3196-3199. 

But, it has been trenchantly argued, if the domain of a theory is properly taken to be the class of happenings in the world the theory can actually desctibe and explain, then foundational physical theories have no such universal scope. First, consider the fact that for most of what we want desctibed and explained in the world, such theories have no applicability at all. Who ever provided a description of the behavior of a chimpanzee, say, in terms of relativistic quantum field theory, and who ever explained failure of competitive equilibrium in markets with natural monopolistic aspects, say, by reference to the elementary particles of the world and their dynamics in spacetime ... 

Huffman, M., Page, J., Sukhdeo, M., Gotoh, S., Kalunde, M., Chandrasiri, T., and Towers, G. 1996. Leaf-swallowing by chimpanzees A behavioral adaptation for the control of strongyle nematode infections. International Journal of Primatology, 17(4), 475-503. 

These behaviors observed in animals are also found in human societies many plants used by chimpanzees for medicinal purposes are known for their therapeutic properties in African hiunan societies [KRI 05]. In Amerindian societies, tastes and odors are also used to decipher the medicinal properties of plant species [LEO 02]. 

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