Chimps Love a Challenge, Solving Puzzles for Fun

Humans like crossword puzzles and Sudoku, so it's not surprising that chimps also like a challenge. A study, published by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), has found that chimpanzees get the same feeling of satisfaction as humans when they complete tricky puzzles.

In the study, which was published in the American Journal of Primatology, scientists set up a challenge for six chimpanzees using plumbing pipes. It involved moving red dice through a network of these pipes until they fell into an exit chamber. In order for the chimps to complete the challenge, they had to prod sticks into holes in the pipes in order to change the direction of the dice. The same task was given to them with Brazil nuts in place of the dice, so that if the chimps succeeded, the nuts would fall out as a treat. The challenge itself mimicked behaviors that chimps display in the wild when they use sticks in order to forage for insects or honey inside a tree stump.

The chimps themselves were all part of an adult family group, consisting of two females and four males with three of the males being half-brothers. They were not trained how to use the device; the challenge only presented them with the opportunity to solve a novel cognitive problem. Chimps were presented with the device as part of their daily routine, but actually using it was completely voluntary.

So what did the chimps do? They actually took part in the challenge and were enthusiastic about solving the puzzle whether or not there was food involved. One of the researchers involved in the study, Fay Clark, said in a press release, "This strongly suggest they get similar feelings of satisfaction to humans who often complete brain games for a feel-good reward."

Like humans, it seems that chimpanzees are motivated to solve a puzzle merely for the sake of the puzzle than for an actual reward. The study also suggests that chimp cognition can be measured on social groups under more naturalistic conditions.