Although chimpanzees will not be experts in French cuisine in the near future, a new study suggests that they can comprehend the concept of cooking.
The researchers who conducted the study found that chimps can postpone eating their food raw and can even carry it some distance to cook it, instead of eating it as it is.
The findings of the new study are based on 9 experiments conducted by the scientists at the Tchimpounga Sanctuary located in the Republic of Congo.
The animal experts published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
According to the researchers, the experiments suggest that chimpanzees have the mental capacity needed for cooking food, including the planning of it, the understanding of the process and the ability to postpone eating the food raw.
However, the scientists say that chimpanzees lack the ability to start a fire. But if they have a source of heat they might be able to use it and cook their food, said Felix Warneken, a developmental psychologist from Harvard University.
The researchers say that the findings could support the theory that the act of cooking played an important part in the evolution of the human species.
Cooking food makes it easier for digestion, which helped the brains of the earliest human ancestors, the australopithecines. This theory was proposed by scientist Richard Wrangham approximately ten years ago.
According to the researchers, if chimpanzees are mentally equipped for cooking, the australopithecines were too.
The new findings point to the fact that the australopithecines ancestors could have found a way to use the fire and cook their own food.
Human ancestors discovered and started using fire about 1 million years ago, according to various archaeological evidences.
One of the experiments proved that chimpanzees actually prefer cooked sweet potatoes, rather than raw potatoes.
For other tests, researchers showed the chimps two containers. One produced cooked food, while the other container didn’t.
The chimps understood that one of the containers transforms the potatoes from raw to cooked.
When the animals were given the chance to choose, they opted for the container that had the cooked food.
For another experiment, the scientists gave the chimps wood to put into the cooking container, but the animals didn’t put it in, suggesting that they understood wood cannot be cooked.
The chimps also showed they can wait and not eat their food immediately. They chose to postpone the gratification act of eating until the food was cooked.
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