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Sharing is one of the hallmarks of human behavior: give me a cookie and I'm more likely to give you one later. But our bonobo cousins have an odd variation on the practice. They share with strangers before friends. The finding is in the journal PLoS ONE.
分享是人類行為的顯著特征之一：如果有人給我一塊甜點，那么稍后我肯定會還他一塊。但我們的近親倭黑猩猩則表現得很怪異。他們會先與陌生人分享，然后才與朋友分享。這項發現刊登在《公共科學圖書館·綜合》上。
Researchers tested bonobo sharing in experiments involving fourteen of the apes. All were born in the wild. In the primary experiment, bonobos were placed in a cage with food, and they could choose to admit either a known member of their group, a stranger, or both. In 51 trials, most bonobos shared the feast, but they let the stranger in first.
研究人員在實驗中測試了14只黑猩猩的分享習慣。他們都出生在野外。在此實驗中，將倭黑猩猩關在放有食物的籠子里，他們可以識別其他小組成員是熟人，還是陌生人。在51項測試中，大對數倭黑猩猩都款待了其他猩猩，不過他們會先款待陌生的猩猩。
Why choose an outsider over a friend? In another experiment, the scientists found bonobos only shared when doing so led to a social interaction. Giving up some food to strangers lets these apes expand their social network. This behavior may have evolved to promote social tolerance, in contrast with chimps' sometimes deadly aggression against strangers. Which means that even when food is offered, there's still no such thing as a free lunch.
為什么他們把局外人看得比朋友還重要？在另一項試驗中，科學家們發現倭黑猩猩只有在參與社會互動時才會這么做。放棄一些食物給陌生人，這樣能夠擴大黑猩猩的社交網路。這種行為的進化可能是為了促進社會的包容性，黑猩猩則與之相反，他們有時會拼死攻擊陌生人。這意味著，盡管有人送你食物，但天下還是沒有免費的午餐。
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