how unique are humans really?

 

Photo from Air and Science Magazine

Primatologist Frans de Waal has spent his lifetime 

studying the lives of animals, especially our closest cousins, 

the chimpanzees. de Waal has observed their shifting alliances

 and the structure of their political ranks. He has seen bitter conflicts

 break out, only to be mended by peaceful, respected mediators.

 And he has witnessed chimpanzees grieve for, 

and attempt to comfort, their dead and dying.

But one of the most touching reflections in his new book, 

Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves, 

is the story he tells of a female chimp who didn’t produce enough milk

 to feed her young. When de Waal taught her to feed her baby with a bottle

 instead, she repaid him with what most of us would recognize as gratitude

: holding both of de Waal’s hands and whimpering sadly if he tried to leave.

The book explores many stories of animal emotions from across

 the animal kingdom, and it might leave you wondering 

how unique humans really are.

Mama, the matriarch and oldest of the chimpanzee colony

 of the Royal Burgers Zoo in Arnhem, the Netherlands, 

expressed affection towards behavioral biologist Jan van Hooff

 as she gave him her last hug before she died in 2016.

 Credit: Jan A R A M van Hooff

~ Frans de Waal

from Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions 

and What They Tell Us About Ourselves

with thanks to Science Friday