Chimp & Human Societies: What's the Key Difference? ? News Watch

At an NG Live event earlier this week, primatologist and NG Explorer Jill Pruetz and Nobel Laureate in Economics Roger Myerson engaged in a conversation around ?What Makes a Society Successful??.

After opening remarks by each guest, National Geographic Weekend radio host Boyd Matson brought them together and steered the topics, taking questions from the audience as well. Amazement at the complexity of chimpanzee relationships and behavior was common, as was interest in Myerson?s vision of how governments might run more smoothly and enjoy more support from their citizens.

Through it all, the thing that seemed to captivate everyone most though was how many attitudes and behaviors that we think of as ?human? are shared by chimps as well. To list just a few, Jill described instances of chimps:

sharing

peacefully accepting it when others don?t share

making tools for hunting

adopting orphans

males getting jealous of each other

juveniles carrying and playing with ?dolls? (namely the bodies of other small animals they accidentally killed)

having groups of specific friends

remembering past kindnesses and conflicts

having individual habits when playing or relaxing at the watering hole

and much more.

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The Big Question

So the big question is: Given all these similarities, what is the most important difference between chimp and human society?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Learn More

Find NG Live Events Near You

NG Emerging Explorer Jill Pruetz

Roger Myerson at University of Chicago

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Other Big Questions

Could We Control Other People?s Minds? Should We?

Source: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/12/14/chimp-human-societies-whats-the-key-difference/

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