Julie, the chimp at Zambia's Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust Sanctuary,
shows off her grass "earring." (Liz Simon/National Geographic)
Who would have thought that chimpanzees and humans were
connected through body accessory trends? A study,
done in 2010, shows that these two species are not only connected by biological
traits but also through self-made fashion statements.
Scientists saw that in chimps in Zambia put
blades of grass in their ears for no specific reason and related it to how humans pierce their
ears. The study, done by Edwin van Leeuwen of the Max Planck Institute in
Netherlands, observed 700 hours of footage of the chimps to see how the trend
developed.
Observations
In the videos, van Leeuwen first noticed that Julie, the
primate that invented this behavior, would casually put blades of grass in
either one of both of her ears. After noticing that, van Leewun saw that the
other chimps in her group started to do the same thing.
The “grass
wearing” trend even continued when Julie passed away when other chimps, in her group, like her son continued to put grass in his ear. This behavior may prove that it’s possible for chimps to
create their own forms culture and fads.
Why Do they Do It?
The research scientists found that there are
no genetic or ecological reasons why the chimps are putting the grass in their
ears.
Van Leeuwen said the following about his observations: “They
spontaneously copied the arbitrary behavior from a group member. Chimpanzees
have a tendency to learn from one another – clearly a case of ‘monkey see,
monkey do’ in fact.”
The only other explanation for this trend is that they are doing this
for cultural reasons. For
example, the blade of grass can be a symbol to identify them as a member of a
club or tribe. But, as of now, it’s only an accessory.
What’s your favorite human fashion trend and
do you think they could work for animals? If so, what animal would it be?
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