Chimpanzees Exhibit Flexibility in Empathy,Study

A recent experiment reveals how chimpanzees exhibit empathy, just like humans.

It is a well known fact that human beings can extend empathy to their family, friends, strangers and even other species. But researchers didn't have much information on whether other non-human species display similar ranges of empathic responses.

To solve this, the researchers focused on chimp's contagious yawns and used it as a measure for involuntary empathy.

This study was led by Matthew Campbell, PhD, and Frans de Waal, PhD at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center.

The researchers noticed that the chimps showed contagious yawning to chimps that they were familiar with. Contagious yawns were also shown to familiar and unfamilar humans but not to unfamiliar species like gelada baboons.

"That humans known and unknown elicited empathy similarly to group members, and more than unknown chimpanzees, shows flexibility in engagement," says Campbell. "We can use this information to try to influence this flexible response in order to increase empathy toward unfamiliar chimpanzees, and we hope we will be able to apply such knowledge to humans as well," Campbell said in a news release.

This new finding further supports the previous evidence that deemed contagious yawns to be a sign of social connection between individuals, and not just a sign of sleepiness or boredom.

This study also helps explain how and when humans began interacting with others and also when they choose to offer flexibility.

The finding was documented in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.