BEIJING, Jun 27 (Xinhuanet) -- A new study involved with chimpanzees and 18-month-old children draws the conclusion that chimpanzees are capable of altruism, challenging theories that altruism is unique to humans.

    Felix Warneken and Brian Hare, both from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, performed the study at the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda.

    "They clearly seemed to be motivated by the other person's unachieved goal and not an immediate benefit for themselves,¡± Warneken said.

    While helping behaviour isn't uncommon among non-human primates, it's usually attributed to family relationships or selfish benefits, researchers noted.

    "We were quite impressed by the fact that the chimpanzees were able to help in a novel situation, i.e., showing insightful helping. This tells us that they are cognitively flexible in helping -- are able to develop new kinds of helping -- and thus increase their behavioural repertoire in the area of altruism." he added.

    A study last year reported that chimps would help human keepers retrieve a dropped pen. In that study, the chimps knew the people, who had previously given them food. While in the new study, total strangers dropped pens, and the chimps still helped.

    The researchers said that the next research steps are to see if wild chimps are also capable of altruism, and determine the circumstances in which it happens.

    (Agencies)