{"id":73215,"date":"2025-07-18T17:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/73215\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T17:33:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:33:10","slug":"scientist-stunned-as-chimpanzees-invent-their-own-fashion-trend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/73215\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientist stunned as chimpanzees invent their own fashion trend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Chimpanzees at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia have surprised scientists by picking up and passing along a wholly useless habit\u2014tucking blades of grass into their ears. This unexpected trend sheds new light on how nonhuman animals can develop and maintain social quirks that mirror our own penchant for imitation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Did You Know?<\/p>\n<p>Orcas have shown similar flair, once balancing dead salmon on their heads.<\/p>\n<p>The Trend Spreads to Another Group<\/p>\n<p>A second troop\u2014never in contact with the first\u2014soon replicated the ear-grass fashion. Then Juma, an inventive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.futura-sciences.com\/en\/how-long-would-humanity-survive-without-having-children_18683\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>male<\/strong><\/a>, added grass dangling from their <strong>rears<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s not about why,\u201d says Edwin van Leeuwen. \u201cThey simply <strong>copy<\/strong> each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A Glimpse of Animal Cultural Evolution?<\/p>\n<p>Both chimp groups share human caretakers who sometimes place grass or matchsticks in their own ears, right in front of the chimps. In the wild, chimpanzees focus on survival tasks, but in captivity they adopt even trivial human behaviors. This imitation likely also strengthens <strong>group<\/strong> bonds, signaling attention or approval. These observations challenge the notion that only humans possess <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.futura-sciences.com\/en\/could-solitude-be-good-for-you_18634\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">culture<\/a><\/strong>. As Jake Brooker notes, chimpanzees can learn and spread small, pointless behaviors\u2014proof that culture extends beyond our own species.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.futura-sciences.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/mayer-nathalie.avif\" class=\"attachment-100x100 size-100x100 wp-post-image\" alt=\"mayer-nathalie\" itemprop=\"image\"\/>                <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t        Nathalie Mayer                <\/p>\n<p>\n    Journalist    <\/p>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">Born in Lorraine on a freezing winter night, storytelling has always inspired me, first through my grandmother&#8217;s tales and later Stephen King&#8217;s imagination. A physicist turned science communicator, I&#8217;ve collaborated with institutions like CEA, Total, Engie, and Futura. Today, I focus on unraveling Earth&#8217;s complex environmental and energy challenges, blending science with storytelling to illuminate solutions.<\/p>\n<p>                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/auteur-fs-100x100.webp.webp\" class=\"attachment-100x100 size-100x100\" alt=\"author-fs\" itemprop=\"image\"  \/>                <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chimpanzees at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia have surprised scientists by picking up and passing along a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":73216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-73215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114875439789060046","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}