British scientists from the University of Porsmouth, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Amsterdam and the German Veterinary Medical University, have found thatgorillas also play “catch-catch”, they gently hit the partner and swap the role so that the one who received the hit becomes the pursuer and vice versa. The game develops in much the same way as humans do and also for the same reasons: to maintain acompetitive advantage over the rest during the game. The study has been, published inBiology Letters.
“This experiment is the first of its kind to be done outside of a laboratory and shows howgorillas come to adopt a roledifferent depending on the situation they are living,be the person who catches or the one who has to run so they don’t get caught“, explained the main author of the study, Marina Davila Ross.
Ross states that this work shows that, in unfairly disadvantaged situations, primates show an aversion to this type of situation, in such a way that it would also be shown that not only humans are capable of changing their behavior depending on the social role they are fulfilling. .
To reach these conclusions, the scientist and her colleagues havestudied for about three years different colonies of monkeys, belonging to several European zoos. And among other things, they have observed that the reactions are similar to those typical of a child’s game, and that although the animal hardly reacts to a light blow, when it receives a strong blow it can become angry. In addition, they argue that with these “games” gorillas can know what the limits are within a social environment.
