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Study Finds Chimpanzees Show Early Pet-Keeping Behavior

8/19/2026

Summary

Story summary

Two eastern chimpanzees in Uganda gently combed a red-tailed monkey’s tail, an interaction the authors call an early pet-keeping behavior.
Researchers said the calm, non-aggressive contact differed from typical chimpanzee aggression toward other primates.
Hal Herzog, a psychologist at Western Carolina University, called the allocation of resources to other species “evolutionary nonsense.”
The authors suggest the desire to keep pets may have deep roots in primate evolution, predating Homo sapiens.

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Story summary

Two eastern chimpanzees in Uganda gently combed a red-tailed monkey’s tail, an interaction the authors call an early pet-keeping behavior.
Researchers said the calm, non-aggressive contact differed from typical chimpanzee aggression toward other primates.
Hal Herzog, a psychologist at Western Carolina University, called the allocation of resources to other species “evolutionary nonsense.”
The authors suggest the desire to keep pets may have deep roots in primate evolution, predating Homo sapiens.