Great apes' risk-taking strategies in a decision making task

Daniel B. M. Haun; Christian Nawroth; Josep Call

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028801

Great apes' risk-taking strategies in a decision making task

Daniel B. M. Haun^*, Christian Nawroth, Josep Call

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We investigate decision-making behaviour in all four non-human great ape species. Apes chose between a safe and a risky option across trials of varying expected values. All species chose the safe option more often with decreasing probability of success. While all species were risk-seeking, orangutans and chimpanzees chose the risky option more often than gorillas and bonobos. Hence all four species' preferences were ordered in a manner consistent with normative dictates of expected value, but varied predictably in their willingness to take risks.

Original language	English
Article number	28801
Number of pages	6
Journal	PLoS One
Volume	6
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0028801
Publication status	Published - 21 Dec 2011

Keywords

Chimpanzees Pan-Troglodytes
Reversed-Contingency Task
Gorilla-Gorilla Perform
Pongo-Pygmaeus
Tool Use
Wild Chimpanzees
Rhesus Macaques
Macaca-Mulatta
Quantity
Orangutans

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10.1371/journal.pone.0028801

haun2011plosone28801
© 2011 Haun et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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Cite this

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title = "Great apes' risk-taking strategies in a decision making task",

abstract = "We investigate decision-making behaviour in all four non-human great ape species. Apes chose between a safe and a risky option across trials of varying expected values. All species chose the safe option more often with decreasing probability of success. While all species were risk-seeking, orangutans and chimpanzees chose the risky option more often than gorillas and bonobos. Hence all four species' preferences were ordered in a manner consistent with normative dictates of expected value, but varied predictably in their willingness to take risks.",

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note = "This research was funded by the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.",

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KW - Tool Use

KW - Wild Chimpanzees

KW - Rhesus Macaques

KW - Macaca-Mulatta

KW - Quantity

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Great apes' risk-taking strategies in a decision making task

Abstract

Keywords

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