Article #1
Cite: van Leeuwen, Edwin J. C., et al. “Chimpanzees’ Responses to the Dead Body of a 9-Year-Old Group Member.” American Journal of Primatology, vol. 78, no. 9, Sept. 2016, pp. 914–922. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/ajp.22560.
I found this article by searching up chimpanzees and social behavior on the Academic Search Complete database. I had to go through a few pages to find the article and the title sounded interesting. Methods conducted in this study included observations in the Chimfunshi Wildlife Organization located in Northwestern Zambia. The researchers observed the behavior of 43 individuals after a chimpanzee was discovered dead in the sanctuary, supposedly dragged into sight by a fellow chimpanzee. Researchers decided to put a camera to record the interactions with the dead body. The body was used as a passive focal object, meaning that certain actions like inspecting the body and grooming were scanned by the camera every 30 seconds and this is how the data was collected. Results show that the other chimpanzees continued to check up on their dead group member and the body was also closely inspected by adults and young chimpanzees. I believe this article helps us understand more about chimpanzees because it went into depth about how they react and respond to the death of one of their own. This study shows that these animals understand death and react to it in a way that proves they have intelligence.
Article #2
Cite : Russell, Connie L., and Lauren B. Adamson. “Social Referencing by Young Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes).” Journal of Comparative Psychology, vol. 111, no. 2, June 1997, p. 185. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/0735-7036.111.2.185.
I found this article the same way I did for my first article. The article goes into social referencing, a process that refers to when infants look at facial expressions of other people to figure out what is going on. The methods were done on 17 young chimpanzees ranging from 14 to 41 months old. The chimpanzees were put in two seperate groups, where caretakers would give them a happy face or a fearful one whenever the chimpanzees looked at them. It also involved remote controlled objects being driven into the room which would indicate whether the chimpanzee was comfortable with the object or wary of it. The results of the study showed that the chimpanzees looked often at the caregivers, and that the faces they saw from them made a difference in how comfortable they were with the object in the room with them. The conclusions stated that chimpanzees were able to attain information from facial expressions of others. This study can help us understand the species better because it shows that chimpanzees have the ability of social referencing, a practice used by human babies.
Conclusion
Using the Academic Complete Research Complete was a different experience for me regarding research for a class. I thought it was cool that you can search anything and filter what kind of articles you want. It seemed like a helpful and useful tool for people interested in going deep into a topic of research. I learned some interesting facts about chimpanzees and their intelligence with this tool and it is good to know I can use it for future research.
Hey Mark! Amazing article on how the babies could obtain the information from facial expressions. I really enjoyed reading it!
Hello Mark. I agree that the database tool is extremely useful for our research. With all the filters the tool has it makes it very easy to find specific animals to research about.
Hey Mark! I went through similar methods as you. I also looked up some key terms and it really helped find articles suited for me. I hope the tool helps me in the long run for my essays.