Skip to main content
Log in

Chimpanzees really know what others can see in a competitive situation

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Animal Cognition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Chimpanzee’s perspective-taking abilities are currently disputed. Here we show that in some food competition contexts, subordinate chimpanzees do take the visual perspective of dominant individuals, preferentially targeting a hidden piece of the food that the dominant cannot see over a piece that is visible to both individuals. However, the space where the animals compete is critical in determining whether subjects demonstrate this skill. We suggest that competition intensity, as mediated by these spatial factors, may play an important role in determining the strategy chimpanzees utilize in competitive contexts. Since some strategies may not require visual perspective taking in order to be successful, chimpanzees may not always demonstrate this skill. Differences in spatial arrangement may therefore account for the conflicting results of past studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Boesch C (1994) Cooperative hunting in wild chimpanzees. Anim Behav 48:653–667

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourne GH (1969) Anatomy, behavior and diseases of chimpanzees, vol 1. S. Karger, Basel

  • Bräuer J, Call J, Tomasello M (2005) All great ape species follow gaze to distant locations and around barriers. J Comp Psychol 119:145–154

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bräuer J, Kaminski J, Riedel J, Call J, Tomasello M (2006) Making inferences about the location of hidden food: social dog—causal ape. J Comp Psychol 120:38–47

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Call J, Hare BA, Tomasello M (1998) Chimpanzee gaze in an object-choice task. Anim Cogn 1:89–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Call J, Tomasello M (1999) A nonverbal false belief task: the performance of children and great apes. Child Dev 70:381–395

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Emery NJ, Lorincz EN, Perrett DI, Oram MW (1997) Gaze following and joint attention in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). J Comp Psychol 111:286–293

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hare B, Call J, Agnetta B, Tomasello M (2000) Chimpanzees know what conspecifics do and do not see. Anim Behav 59:771–785

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hare B, Call J, Tomasello M (2001) Do chimpanzees know what conspecifics know? Anim Behav 61:139–151

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hare B (2001) Can competitive paradigms increase the validity of experiments on primate social cognition? Anim Cogn 4:269–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hare B, Addessi E, Call J, Tomasello M, Visalberghi E (2003) Do capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella, know what conspecifies do and do not see? Anim Behav 65:131–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hostetter AB, Cantero M, Hopkins WD (2001) Differential use of vocal and gestural communication by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in response to the attentional status of a human (Homo sapiens). J Comp Psychol 115:337–343

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Itakura S, Agnetta B, Hare B, Tomasello M (1999) Chimpanzee use of human and conspecific social cues to locate hidden food. Dev Sci 2:448–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaminski J, Riedel J, Call J, Tomasello M (2004a) Domestic goats (Capra hircus) follow gaze direction and use social cues in an object choice task. Anim Behav 69:11–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaminski J, Call J, Tomasello M (2004b) Body orientation and face orientation: two factors controlling apes’ begging behavior from humans. Anim Cogn 7:216–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karin-D’Arcy M, Povinelli DJ (2002) Do chimpanzees know what each other see? A closer look. Int J Comp Psychol 15:21–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Liebal K, Pika S, Call J, Tomasello M (2004) To move or not to move: how apes alter the attentional state of others. Interact Stud 5:199–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathy JW, Isbell LA (2001) The relative importance of size of food and interfood distance in eliciting aggression in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Folia Primatol 72:268–277

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Melis AP, Call J, Tomasello M (2006) Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) conceal visual and auditory information from others. J Comp Psychol 120:154–162

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miklosi A, Polgardi R, Topal J, Csanyi V (1998) Use of experimenter-given cues in dogs. Anim Cogn 1:113–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Povinelli DJ, Nelson KE, Boysen ST (1990) Inferences about guessing and knowing by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). J Comp Psychol 104:203–210

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Povinelli DJ, Eddy TJ (1996) What young chimpanzees know about seeing. Monogr Soc Res Child 61:1–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Povinelli DJ, Reaux JE, Bierschwale DT, Allain AD, Simon BB (1997) Exploitation of pointing as a referential gesture in young children, but not adolescent chimpanzees. Cogn Dev 12:327–365

    Google Scholar 

  • Povinelli DJ, Vonk J (2003) Chimpanzee minds: suspiciously human? Trends Cogn Sci 7:157–160

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rowell T (1999) The myth of peculiar primates. In: Box HO, Gibson KR (eds) Symposia of the zoological society of London; mammalian social learning: comparative and ecological perspectives. Cambridge University press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Sterck EHM, Watts DP, van Schaik CP (1997) The evolution of female social relationships in nonhuman primates. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 41:291–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, Call J, Hare B (1998) Five primate species follow the visual gaze of conspecifics. Anim Behav 55:1063–1069

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, Hare B, Agnetta B (1999) Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, follow gaze direction geometrically. Anim Behav 58:769–777

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, Hare B, Fogleman T (2001) The ontogeny of gaze following in chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, and rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta. Anim Behav 61:335–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wittig R, Boesch C (2003) Food competition and linear dominance hierarchy among female chimpanzees of the Tai National Park. Int J Primatol 24:847–867

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Julia Riedel, Hagen Lehmann, and Katrin Schumann for helping with data collection, and Tanja Lindner and Josefine Kalbitz for coding. We also thank Nora Tippmann for the drawings. Finally, we are very grateful to Alexandra Rosati for checking the style of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juliane Bräuer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bräuer, J., Call, J. & Tomasello, M. Chimpanzees really know what others can see in a competitive situation. Anim Cogn 10, 439–448 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-007-0088-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-007-0088-1

Keywords

Navigation