Cite one example why the chimpanzee is considered a better model for early hominid behavior than a gorilla is.

Answer 1

Most definitely tool use. Chimpanzees forge termite sticks and learn the behavior culturally from their parents and peers. Also, anthropologists noted that chimps in a particular area will use the same rock to crack nuts. It's like a communal nutcracking station.

I can't find the study, but I once watched a documentary where anthropologists put different animals, including apes, in front of a mirror. The anthropologists placed a red sticker on foreheads of these animals. The chimpanzee looked in the mirror, grabbed the red sticker off his head, and put it on the ground, whereas the gorilla didn't notice. This shows that chimpanzees have some concept of self, an identity. The chimp understood that he was looking in the mirror at himself. That's really incredible.

Answer 2

Neither is a good example. DNA studies have shown they are both closely related to us genetically, yet they are a separate species. Early hominids were self-aware and could entertain abstract thoughts. The great apes have not changed. They're a dead end. The closest they have come to being like us in the wild is in the use of sticks to crudely forage termite hills for food. So animal behaviorists jump and say "aha, there is an example of a chimp using a tool to obtain food." Well, no they used a stick, and they didn't make the stick, they found it lying on the ground. The only behaviorable trait an ape has that we could learn from are the means the pigmy chimps, (adoboes I believe they're called), use in settling disputes. They have sex. Sexiest creatures on earth. Anytime there is a crises between two of them they have sex. Can't beat that with a stick, now can you.

Answer 3

Ok, I'll answer this because I couldn't believe someone actually wrote "gorillas are more caring towards nature" in a reply.


Gorillas don't get much, it's a rarity when a Gorilla gets a little something something.
Chimps on the other hand, go at it like frat boys at a drunken sorority mixer.

Gorillas also are folivores, allowing them to eat a wide range of plants, while chimps are omnivorous, like humans, which leads to a lot of the same behaviors.

Sex & Food, If it's good enough for the Kwijibo, it's good enough for you.

Answer 4

We share a common ancestor with the chimp and a couple million years earlier our chimp human common ancestor shares a common ancestor with the gorilla. New fossils, Sahelanthropus and Orrorin put bipedalism back to the common ancestor or so close that it is becoming obvious to me that the common ancestor was a biped. Chimps and gorillas probably both evolved from a biped though we do not have fossil evidence for the gorilla ancestor. So what we have is a chimp that evolved from something that looked more like us, but with a chimp brain, and evolved its knucklewalking. Chimps are more closely related and their behavior, especially bonobos, is closer to humans. For those behaviors that we share in common, it is likely that it was present in the common ancestor some 6 million years ago, give or take a million.

Answer 5

Behavior and genetic similarities. Additionally, the gorilla is more specialized adaptively than the chimps are compared to humans.

Additionally, the anatomical differences between ancient hominids and australopithocenes are more chimp-like than ape.

Answer 6

We have a common ancestor, but the chimpanzee evolved in their own way. So comparing Chimps to the first Hominids doesn't work.

Answer 7

There are a variety of reasons, but to just take sides on one of the contradictions I've noticed between several answers, it is not because chimpanzees are somehow more egalitarian or friendly/peaceful. Humans and Chimpanzees are the only animals to engage in "murder" or "warfare."

To quote one of my favorite lines from any anthropology textbook: “…most significant of all our gifts, as things turned out, was the legacy bequeathed us by those killer apes, our immediate forebears. Even in the first long days of our beginnings we held in our hand the weapon, an
instrument somewhat older than ourselves.” (Ardrey:African Genesis)

Answer 8

Our ancestors survived because it was better to be smart than to be strong. For instance, I’ve never seen a gorilla use a tool, but then again I don’t make a habit out of watching gorillas.

Answer 9

Aside from DNA, I'd mention the gorilla's big belly, leafy low-energy diet, digestion, and naps as more specialized.

I'd compare/contrast that to chimp's more varied diet and more similar digestion to humans' - more generalized would imply more adaptable and awaaaaaaay we go.

Answer 10

The chimpanzee is an omnivore, like us, but the gorilla is strictly herbivorous.