Chimpanzees Introduce New Fashion Trend to Animal Kingdom

Chimpanzees Introduce New Fashion Trend to Animal Kingdom

A group of Zambian chimpanzees have begun sticking blades of grass into their ears as a fashion statement.

A Zambian chimpanzee takes part in the new trend.  Grass blade
earrings serve no purpose for the chimp other than as ornaments. 

Humans aren't the only ones who worry about their look. A study published in the journal Animal Cognition describes a group of chimps in Zambia who began their own fad.

The Beginning of the Trend

It all started when Julie, a chimpanzee in Zambia's Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust Sanctuary, repeatedly put blades of grass in both her ears. Primate Expert and lead researcher at the Max Planck Institute Edwin van Leeuwen says, “The grass-in-ear behavior is not far removed from a human fad. I’d say this could be the equivalent of people wearing earrings or certain kinds of hats.”

The Following 

A pair of chimps help each other with the latest trend.  The blades of grass act as earrings or ornaments for the two.  

After Julie the chimp began the trend, van Leeuwen saw that eight of the twelve chimps began copying her. Van Leeuwen said, “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 blades of grass serve no actual purpose.  The chimps use them the way humans use earrings. 

Van Leeuwen's observations show that there’s nothing random about individual chimpanzees sticking grass into their ears.  The act of putting blades of grass into their ears is a way for the chimpanzees to identify themselves in a group.  

“This reflects chimpanzees’ proclivity to actively investigate and learn from group members’ behaviors in order to obtain biologically relevant information.”  

A chimpanzee shows off its newest blade of grass.  The grass acts as a form of identity to the groups.

   

What Does It Mean?

The scientists say there are no genetic or ecological factors that influenced this behavior. The only influence for the trend is the culture of the group of chimpanzees. The grass shows artistic conceptualization, pre-planning, tool-use and culture. It's as if the grass identifies the chimps as members of a social group.  In fact, it doesn't even matter if the origins of the trend are unknown. 

“The fact that these behaviors can be arbitrary and outlast the originator speaks to the cultural potential of chimpanzees.”  

Further on in the future, the offspring of these chimps could use blades of grass with no knowledge of why they do it. 

Van Leeuwen says his research on 700 hours of footage may seem insignificant, but it closely relates to human culture and behaviors.  He says humans

 wouldn't have modern society or any of the comforts that we have created for ourselves, without one of our ancestors having the idea of fashion, culture, and hitting things with rocks and sticks.  

Therefore, keep a lookout for these trend setting chimps.  They may be onto something bigger than you think.