Endangered Bonobos Reveal Evolution of Human Kindness

Marked by their kindness to strangers, bonobos are helping scientists solve the mystery of a particularly human quality: our altruistic nature.

It's a cruel irony, then, that the very bonobos that are shedding light on how our humanity toward others arose are the orphans of mothers killed by, you guessed it, humans. (Read about bonobos in National Geographic magazine.)

The bonobos, orphaned by illegal hunters in central Africa, are the study subjects of evolutionary anthropologists Brian Hare and Jingzhi Tan, both of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Working with the rescued apes at the Lola Ya Bonobo Sanctuary in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Hare and Tan have revealed a social side to bonobos that was previously thought to be uniquely human.

Unlike other nonhuman primates—including our other closest living relatives, chimpanzees—peace-loving bonobos seem to tolerate strangers, share resources with random bonobos, and exhibit a form of empathy called contagious yawning. (Related: "'Contagious' Yawning Occurs More Among Loved Ones.")

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140610-bonobos-great-apes-animals-science-evolution/#close-modal

Seems they're more human than a lot of human beings we hear about! I'm tired of people treating idealism and altruism like they're weaknesses; the only way they become weaknesses is when people aren't strong enough to be altruistic.

Spot on Ben. Aim for the stars, not for the damn cess-pit.

Ben_Reilly wrote:Seems they're more human than a lot of human beings we hear about! I'm tired of people treating idealism and altruism like they're weaknesses; the only way they become weaknesses is when people aren't strong enough to be altruistic.

ermm....exactly WHAT??? good does altruism do??

lets face it... on a "macro" scale if you are financially altruistic you are going to end up being "ripped off" and if you are physically altruistic, you going to end up quietly buried and forgotten.....
On a much smaller scale yes it does benefit all round...but then its likely it not so "altruistic"

per example the brits are generally admired for their road discipline as regards emergency vehicles, MOST brits will go to quite some manoevers to allow emergency vehicles to pass, unusually, NOT because doing so avoids a penalty, but because its the "right thing" to do....but then thats NOT altruistic...some where in the back of our minds is ..."one day that emergency vehicle will be for me"

so whats with altruism?

and as for idealism.....

there are very few if any rich idealists.....and a hell of a lot of bankrupt ones
there are very few even moderately successful idealists...but a hell of a lot of bitter twisted failures....

Tell that to Bill Gates Victor.

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/

so thats erm.....one....

and...laudable though it is, To him thats like me putting a Tenner in a charity box at christmas...

Nope,

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