Do apes plan for the future?
EU-funded researchers have found what they believe to be conclusive proof that non-human species plan for their future, an attribute previously thought to be exclusive to humans. Mathias and Helena Osvath of Lund University in Sweden have published their findings in the journal Animal Cognition. According to the journal, this study 'is the first to provide conclusive evidence of advanced planning capacities in non-human species.' In the study, the researchers tempted the apes with something they desired, with the aim of seeing if the animals would forego that immediate satisfaction in favour of a tool that they could then use in the distant future for something else they also desired. This was important because if the study was to show whether the subjects truly plan for a future need, they must override a motivation to satisfy immediate desire in favour of a motivation to satisfy a different kind of drive in the future. Two chimpanzees and one orang-utan housed at the Lund University Primate Research Station at Furuvik Zoo in Sweden participated in the main study along with the control group. The two female chimpanzees, Linda and Maria Magdalena, were 22 and 6 years old, respectively while the male orang-utan Naong was 12 years old. They were each shown a hose and how it could be used to get fruit soup, a popular ape delicacy. They were then tempted with their favourite fruit alongside the hose. This was to test their ability to suppress the choice of the immediate reward (their favourite fruit) in favour of a tool (the hose), which would lead to a larger reward in the form of fruit soup some 70 minutes later. The outcome of the study was that the apes chose the hose more frequently than their favourite fruit. This leads the researchers to suggest that the apes are able to make choices in favour of future needs, even when they directly compete with an immediate reward. It has been a commonly held belief that planning for future needs has been restricted to humans. Unfortunately it has been very difficult to witness similar future planning in non-humans, and up until now limited research has been undertaken to test this hypothesis. As a result of this study however, Mathias and Helena Osvath were able to conclude that 'the results of this study entail that capacities central to humans evolved much earlier than previously believed.' The researchers however are quick to assert that they are not claiming that the planning skills of humans are identical to those of the other great apes, but rather that there does not seem to be a marked evolutionary discontinuity in the ability to foresee future needs. EU support for the work came from the SEDSU ('Stages in the evolution and development of sign use') project, which is financed through the NEST ('New and emerging science and technology') activity of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6).
Countries
Sweden