Great Apes Play Tag Like Children

July 15th, 2010

A funny study recently suggests that great apes like to play tag too. A paper published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters suggests that apes like to play tag to keep their competitive advantage just like children do.

The research was carried out by behavioral biologist Dr Marina Davila Ross of the University of Portsmouth and colleagues lead author Edwin van Leeuwen from the Free University of Amsterdam and Dr Elke Zimmerman from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Germany. She says:

“This study shows a new opportunistic side to apes.

“Our findings on gorilla play show important similarities with the children’s game of tag. Not only did the gorillas in our study hit their playmates and then run away chased by their playmates, but they also switched their roles when hit so the chaser became the chased and vice versa.

“Experimental research has already demonstrated that animals with the disadvantage in an unfair situation show an aversion to the unfairness so with that knowledge and our own study we can conclude that humans are not unique in their ability to change their behavior in social situations depending on whether they have the advantage or disadvantage in an unfair situation. ”

Wonder if they will play tag with a human. Surely a natural way to avoid the need for best weight loss products…lol

Couple of pretty interesting studies I’ve noticed the last week involving the intelligence of animals. This one of course, but the study of cats mimicking monkey calls a few days ago is pretty fascinating.