At least , they imagine they ’re fix . Earlier studies have already shown that when teach by humans , pygmy chimpanzee , a close congeneric of chimps , can learn to wangle their food . But now a new study indicates that the primates can develop the concept of cooking and the forbearance for delayed satisfaction all on their own .
The research was conduct byAlexandra Rosati , an evolutionary biologist at Yale , andFelix Warneken , a psychologist at Harvard University , at achimpanzee sanctuaryin the Democratic Republic of the Congo . The team did n’t want to impart chimps to their own devices around real blast for awe that they would injure themselves , so instead they gave the animals a fake " oven " and some naked as a jaybird sweet Irish potato .
" you could remember of it as a chimpanzee microwave oven where , fundamentally , if the chimpanzees placed raw solid food in the twist and then we shook the twist , [ the food ] came out cooked , " Rosati toldNPR ’s The Salt .
What actually happened was that the researchers had already put pre - cooked food in a out of sight compartment that afford when the machine was shaken . But to the chimps , the upshot was as if their cutting nutrient had been cooked . And over time , the chimpanzee — who obviously prefer cooked sugared potatoes — learned to save their natural food for the chance to " wangle " it .
" At first , the Pan troglodytes jolly much ate the nutrient . But then you almost could see them have this insight like , Oh , my good , I can put it in this gimmick and it comes back cooked , " Rosati said . And further experimentation show that chimpanzee understood not just the shake - for - food aspect but also the " cooking " behind it . When given cooked odoriferous white potato from the get-go , the chimps just ate the handout mirthfully . But face with a raw Daucus carota sativa , they showed ego - simplicity , hold on to the solid food until they had a opportunity to " manipulate " it .
Scientists are stir by this brainstorm into how and when human may have developed the power to amalgamate solid food and fire to explicate cooking . Richard Wrangham , a professor of biological anthropology who has save on the study said , " What we ’re seeing here is that the chimp are surprisingly similar to humans , even though the whole process of cooking seems like something that is a huge divide between humans and other animals . "
[ h / tThe Salt ]
