Gorillas spontaneously clean their food before eating it

  • Researchers gave a group of gorillas in a zoo clean and dirty apples
  • Seventy-five per cent of the time, the gorillas spontaneously cleaned the apples
  • The gorillas had never seen anyone doing this, suggesting that social learning isn’t need for the behaviour to emerge 

Gorillas appear to have better habits than some people when it comes to cleanliness. 

A new study has found that gorillas spontaneously clean their food before eating it, without having to witness someone else doing it first.

The findings suggest that social learning is not required for this behaviour to emerge.

 

No-one likes getting a bit of grit in their salad – and it seems that the desire for clean food even extends to gorillas. A new study has found that gorillas spontaneously clean their food before eating it, without having to witness someone else doing it first

THE STUDY 

The researchers provided a captive population of western lowland gorillas at Leipzig Zoo with clean and dirty apples.

When the gorillas were provided with dirty apples, they all showed evidence of food cleaning in at least 75 per cent of trials.

Dr Damien Neadle, lead author of the study, Said: ‘In four of our five gorillas, at least one of the techniques for cleaning was similar to that observed in the wild.

‘Given that these two groups are culturally unconnected, it suggests that social learning is not required for this behaviour to emerge.’

An international team of researchers, led by the University of Birmingham, saw the behaviour in captive gorillas – suggesting that food cleaning is a behaviour that appears spontaneously.

In their study, the researchers provided a captive population of western lowland gorillas at Leipzig Zoo with clean and dirty apples.

When the gorillas were provided with dirty apples, coated with sand, they all showed evidence of food cleaning in at least 75 per cent of trials.

Dr Damien Neadle, lead author of the study, Said: ‘In four of our five gorillas, at least one of the techniques for cleaning was similar to that observed in the wild.

‘Given that these two groups are culturally unconnected, it suggests that social learning is not required for this behaviour to emerge.

In their study, the researchers provided a captive population of western lowland gorillas at Leipzig Zoo with clean and dirty apples. When the gorillas were provided with dirty apples, coated with sand, they all showed evidence of food cleaning in at least 75 per cent of trials

In their study, the researchers provided a captive population of western lowland gorillas at Leipzig Zoo with clean and dirty apples. When the gorillas were provided with dirty apples, coated with sand, they all showed evidence of food cleaning in at least 75 per cent of trials

‘This fact does not discount the importance of social learning, but simply emphasises the role of individual learning in the emergence of food cleaning behaviour in western lowland gorillas.

‘Here, we argue that individual learning is responsible for the form of the behaviour, whilst social learning possibly contributes to its frequency.

‘Rather than being a binary consideration of either cultural learning or not, behaviours like food cleaning, which can be propagated by shared learning but are also capable of being learnt spontaneously by individuals, could be deemed to be “soft culture”.’ 

The findings suggest that social learning is not required for this behaviour to emerge (stock image) 

The findings suggest that social learning is not required for this behaviour to emerge (stock image) 



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