- Crunch time looms for BHP's bid buy Anglo American
- Kane to face old club Spurs for first time in Seoul
- Markets rise as traders cheered by China property plan
- Black farmers in Brazil changing views on coffee production
- Iran's President Raisi declared dead in helicopter crash
- Australia police arrest 554 in domestic violence crackdown
- South Korea, Britain host AI summit with safety top of agenda
- New president Lai vows to defend Taiwan's democracy
- Forever fad: Rubik says his cube 'reminds us why we have hands'
- Trump eyes witness stand as trial draws to a close
- Ryanair annual profit jumps on higher demand, fares
- High-priced Cummins, Starc face off as IPL enters playoffs
- Iran media says President Raisi died in helicopter crash
- Dominican Republic President Abinader re-elected to 2nd term
- New Taiwan president Lai hails 'glorious' democracy
- New Caledonia separatists defy French efforts to unblock roads
- Timberwolves knock out defending champion Nuggets, Pacers oust Knicks
- Trump biopic hits Cannes Film Festival
- Iran President Raisi's helicopter found, 'no sign of life'
- Three talking points ahead of 2024 French Open
- 'Haikyu!!': Comic heroes fuel Japan Olympic volleyball manga mania
- Timberwolves rally to knock defending champion Nuggets out of NBA playoffs
- London court set to rule on Julian Assange extradition
- Business and Bollywood votes in India election
- Pope calls anti-migrant attitudes at US border 'madness'
- Mexico aims to be big economic winner from US-China tensions
- Uncertain future for thousands after deadly Brazil floods
- Schauffele makes the putt of his life for first major win
- Wirtz returns to help unbeaten Leverkusen chase history
- Search for Iran's President Raisi after helicopter goes missing
- DeChambeau's powerful putting has him excited for US Open
- Taiwan to swear in new president as China pressure grows
- Atalanta can end 61-year wait for trophy in Europa League final
- Schauffele birdies final hole to capture PGA for first major win
- Guardiola casts doubt over long-term Man City future
- Hollywood icons Costner and Demi Moore make Cannes comeback
- Pacers shoot down Knicks to reach NBA Eastern Conference finals
- Schauffele birdies final hole, captures first major at PGA Championship
- McLaughlin powers to Indy 500 pole in all-Penske front row
- Monaco footballer tapes over LGBTQ badge
- Korda wins sixth LPGA title of year with win at Liberty National
- Pacers put on shooting show to down Knicks, reach NBA Eastern Conference finals
- US envoy touts 'potential' of Israel-Saudi deal in Netanyahu talks
- Dominicans vote for president in poll overshadowed by Haiti crisis
- Brest secure Champions League qualification, PSG win without Mbappe
- Mbappe absent as PSG win final Ligue 1 game
- Still exhausted after arrest, Scheffler closes with 64 at PGA
- Brest secure historic Champions League qualification
- France's Macron calls fresh emergency on New Caledonia unrest
- Taiwan swears in new president as China pressure grows
Old joke: Apes also like to tease, meaning trait could be ancient
A boisterous young chimpanzee slaps an adult in his family on the back, then scampers away and looks back to see the response to his cheekiness.
Nothing yet, so the young chimp Azibo rolls back and dishes out another slap, this time provoking a reaction: the distracted adult waves a half-hearted swipe in his direction, shooing the troublesome youth away -- though not for long.
This scene recorded at Leipzig Zoo in Germany is just one of many analysed by scientists to show that great apes engage in playful teasing in a similar way to young human children.
Because all four species of great ape were recorded teasing each other, the "cognitive prerequisites for joking" probably evolved in a shared ancestor millions of years ago, the scientists said in a new study on Wednesday.
The researchers catalogued a wide range of classic japery. One ape would offer another an object, only to withdraw it at the last second. Or they would prevent their mark from grabbing something they want. Other tricksters simply did the opposite of what they were told. Some just liked to poke.
Much of this behaviour is common in human children, starting from around eight months for the most precocious.
Somewhere between normal play and aggression, playful teasing involves anticipating the response of others as well as enjoying going against their expectations, according to the study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Lead author Isabelle Laumer told AFP that the researchers were surprised this rambunctious teasing "rarely resulted in any aggressive behaviour".
The great primatologist Jane Goodall had previously observed that young chimpanzees "sometimes disturbed older animals when they were sleeping by jumping on them or playfully biting them, or pulling their hair," Laumer said.
"The adults also reacted to this quite calmly," added Laumer, a cognitive biologist and primatologist at Germany's Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.
- Aping around -
The team, which included researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, analysed 75 hours of video of chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans getting up to hijinks in zoos.
Focusing on one youth of each species, the researchers identified 18 different teasing behaviours.
Unsurprisingly, chimpanzees were up to the most funny business. They liked slapping a dozing adult or just generally getting in the way. Orangutans showed a proficiency at hair pulling. Gorillas were fans of that most traditional of provocations: the shove.
As demonstrated by Azibo, most of the interactions involved a youth starting to tease an adult, then repeating the gesture until they got a reaction.
In one quarter of the interactions, the initial target turned the tables on the prankster, teasing them right back.
That could devolve into more traditional play, in which the apes wrestled, chased, mock-bit or tickled each other.
Such play takes two, but playful teasing has to be asymmetrical -- one has to target another, the researchers emphasised.
The cognitive ability to engage in such joking must have been present in the common ancestor of humans and all modern primates at least 13 million years ago, they said.
But beyond the laughs, what is the purpose of this incessant teasing among apes?
Laumer declined to speculate.
But she said that for human children, such teasing helps "test social boundaries," creating mutual enjoyment and therefore potentially strengthening the relationship between the prankster and the butt of their joke.
R.Adler--BTB