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<\/div>Chimpanzees enjoy teasing each other<\/p>\n
apple2499\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
Bonobos, orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees all poke, tickle and even steal from their peers as a form of playful teasing. Understanding these apes\u2019 mischievous behaviour could help biologists work out the origins of humans\u2019 sense of humour.<\/p>\n
Previous studies<\/a> have found that chimpanzees may engage in agonistic teasing, or harassment, to reinforce their hierarchical positions. But when the right balance of enjoyment and aggression is struck, teasing can also be a form of play and amusement, says Isabelle Laumer<\/a> at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany.<\/p>\n \u201cSo far, the playful side of teasing has not yet been systematically studied,\u201d she says. \u201cSo our goal was to identify and create a criteria for playful teasing in apes.\u201d<\/p>\n To do that, Laumer and her colleagues collected videos of five species of great ape: bonobos (Pan paniscus<\/em>), Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii<\/em>), western and eastern gorillas (Gorilla gorilla<\/em> and Gorilla beringei<\/em>) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes<\/em>). There were a total of 34 apes, all housed in zoos.<\/p>\n From 75 hours of video footage, the team documented 504 social interactions between individuals. Of those, 142 were classified as playful teasing events, consisting of 18 behaviours such as poking, hitting, pulling on hair, hindering movement and stealing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTeasing is characterised by a provocative element,\u201d says Laumer. \u201cIt\u2019s usually coming from the teaser and often one-sided, with lots of repetition.\u201d<\/p>\n The researchers found that the teaser tended to look at their target\u2019s face straight after an action, which suggests that the teaser anticipated a response. When there was no response from the target, the teaser would usually escalate the teasing, for example by poking them even more.<\/p>\n \n