Our preferences are deep-rooted traits that evolved over time.<\/p>\n
We have been studying our closest primate cousins to better understand ourselves. One recent finding has detailed how chimpanzees prefer crystals to normal rocks. But science has struggled to understand why, until now. By studying chimpanzees and apes, we reveal a few secrets about ourselves.<\/p>\n
What makes these chimps hold on to their favorite crystals?<\/p>\n
How studying chimps and apes has revealed and explained human mysteries<\/p>\n
Some scientists have dedicated their lives to studying apes and other types of human-like creatures on our planet.<\/p>\n
Jane Goodall was the champion of chimpanzee conservation and study. She found that chimpanzees used the stems of grass for fishing, proving that even basic primates use tools, just like we do.<\/p>\n
By comparing our own genomes to those of chimps, science has found that we share roughly 98% of our DNA with them.<\/p>\n
And chimps mirror us in several other ways. Or do we mirror them? Regardless, chimpanzees have been found to have complex social hierarchies that act like the everyday politicians of modern society. Planning strategic overthrows of leaders and even forming alliances with other chimps based on need or desire.<\/p>\n
Science has taught us that we as humans are not as unique as we thought<\/p>\n
For generations, we believed that humans were unique and far different from our animal kinfolk.<\/p>\n
Science, as always, has proven us wrong. Elephants have been found to display the same kind of paternal protection instincts that we have. Adult elephants often place themselves in danger to protect their young.<\/a><\/p>\n We have found that chimps and some monkey species have unique abilities to avoid disease.<\/p>\n Their immune system is not affected by diseases like AIDS and malaria, revealing that we have far more to learn from them than we ever thought. By studying these unique biological traits, we have gained invaluable insight into our own biology.<\/p>\n Our impact on the planet and the world of wildlife that calls it home has been profound, to say the least.<\/p>\n As conservation efforts increase around the world, some species are making a triumphant comeback from the brink of extinction<\/a>. Such as a crocodile species that almost vanished from the planet, because of us.<\/p>\n As chimpanzees share most of their DNA with us as humans, a recent paper published in Frontiers of\u00a0<\/a>Psychology\u00a0<\/a>explains how symmetry affects chimps.<\/p>\n Chimps have a deep-rooted proclivity for crystals that mirrors our own<\/p>\n A paper published in\u00a0Frontiers of Psychology\u00a0has detailed how chimpanzees\u2019 fascination with shiny crystals is a deep-rooted trait that has followed them down the evolutionary line to us.<\/p>\n Researchers noted that chimps would choose a crystal over just a plain ol\u2019 rock. The question is why?<\/p>\n The researchers found that the chimps would hold on to the crystals in what they termed a \u201cscientific hostage crisis\u201d. Meaning that without the researchers offering up another shiny crystal, the chimp would persistently hold on to the one they had.<\/p>\n How our preference for symmetry and light-refracting crystals has come from chimpanzees<\/p>\n The team noted that this preference for crystals likely explains our own proclivity for specific geometric, transparent materials. For decades, we struggled to understand why even early hominids displayed the same behavior.<\/p>\n We now know that it stems from our evolutionary timeline.<\/p>\n Science has revealed how our DNA lineage may affect everything from how our skin reacts to sunlight<\/a> to the more recent discovery that humans walked upright before our brains became notably larger.<\/p>\n