Project Chimps - Chimpanzee Personalities

About Project Chimps

Today I joined Alan Bergman, a caregiver with Project Chimps. Alan has a BSc in Zoology from Miami university, and a MSc in Primate Behaviour and Ecology from Central Washington university. 

Alan has been a facilitator of the enrichment committee for about a year. 

Project chimps is a 236-acre sanctuary that is based in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Georgia in the United States, and houses chimpanzees that have retired from research. They currently house 77 chimpanzees that are separated into 5 multi-male, multi-female groups.

Young Chimpanzee

Chimpanzee Personality 

What is a personality?

"individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving" - American Psychological Association 

Do chimpanzees have personality? 

This is debated, however, both I and the presenter do believe that chimpanzees (as well as other animals) do have personalities. 

The presence of a personality is something that is difficult to prove or disprove because there is no real tangible essence to a personality. however, after spending time with any animal, it is difficult to believe they do not possess one. 

Evidence shows that there are variations in behaviour frequency in single populations, and having a personality can increase fitness of the animal through certain behaviours increasing reproductive chance and/or survival.  

Where can we see chimpanzee personality?

Chimpanzees at Project Chimps interact with their caregivers and troop on a daily basis, these social interactions can give insight into individual personality. 

For example, some chimps play/groom/aggressive with some individuals more than others, some chimps have food/space/enrichment preferences, some chimps enjoy the musician that Project Chimps occasionally brings in and some don't like it.

These individual variations could simply be the result of internal biological processes driven by varying genes, however, I believe that same line of thinking could also be applied to us. 

With nothing being particularly unique about our genes or cells, it drives an ultimatum. If we have personalities then so too must other animals. If animals don't have personalities then perhaps we are only unique in our biological responses.

How can we assess chimpanzee personality?

One method of assessing personality of hominids is the Hominoid Personality Questionnaire. This questionnaire rates the personality traits (54) of observed individuals based on frequency (1 - no display of behaviour, 7 - always displays behaviour). 

Project Chimps intends to conduct this research on the resident chimps. they have slightly altered the questionnaire by removing one trait, as they believed it to be too similar to another listed trait.

Three to six care-staff will monitor and assess the chimps over four months, resulting in multiple questionnaires for each chimp.

Results will be analysed using factor analysis (e.g. does increased aggression in one individual show increased/decreased intelligence, protectiveness, socialness, etc. in other individuals in the troop). 

From this analysis, they are expecting 5-6 personality factors based on previous research papers. 

1. Dominance
2. Socialness
3. Dependability 
4. Agreeableness
5. Emotionality
6. Openness
   
   

Chimpanzee smile [Credit: ZME Science]

Preliminary Results

• Two chimps showed perfect 7's on dominance. The alphas expectedly show the highest values. 

• Three chimps showed an intelligence score of 6.5, with many others showing 5+. 

• Two chimps showed clumsy scores of 5+, and they believe there is likely a correlation between clumsiness and playfulness. 

• One chimp showed a playfulness score of 7, and one of 6.8. 

• Two chimps showed a independence score of 6.5+. 

Once the analysis of results is finished, they intend to take these results and apply them to future studies.

Future Studies

1. Personality and enrichment use
2. Personality and habitat use
3. Personality and space use in villas
4. Personality and social relationships

Conclusion

Chimpanzees, and other animals, likely have personalities. Project chimps is examining the personality of their resident chimps. These personalities can be assessed and used in further research in a way that may improve captive enrichment, enclosure layout, and grouping dynamics. 

The study by itself won't be of any scientific significance but may lead to further research on how the lives of captive primates can be improved. Additionally, due to the experiments layout, this experiment and future experiments results are unlikely to have any impact on how we perceive wild populations.

One potential positive outcome is increased empathy and awareness of conservation issues among the public, which could increase pressure for funding for research and conservation.

 

Student Reflection

 The study of animal cognition and awareness is very interesting and important in its way, however, the experiment presented is not ironclad. I believe a re-evaluation of experiment design could lead to a larger research impact. 

I love primates and enjoyed the talk and may go down the primatology route for my career. 

Disclaimer: All views expressed are my own. Images and videos used on this blog are not my own and all rights go to the original owners. This blog and contents are for educational purposes. If you have a copyright issue please contact me via email on author profile.