Animals imitate humans in fighting! Has your dog ever imitated you?

Review expert: Li Weiyang, a well-known popular science writer

I wonder if you have ever discovered the amazing imitation skills of pets when you raise them. Watching the little pets that synchronize their movements with yours is simply so adorable!

Source | Financial Headlines

The imitative behavior of animals makes friends who have cats and dogs exclaim that it is so cute, but this behavior seems to have also caused embarrassing incidents. Previously, the Beijing Wildlife Park became a hot topic because of a dramatic scene.

According to a Weibo hot search, two tourists got into a dispute over trivial matters and fought each other, attracting a large number of tourists and nearby animals to watch. Later, the Beijing Wildlife Park stated on Weibo that "this was the first time the animals had witnessed a human fight, so that some animals followed suit and beat each other that night, and the situation got out of control. In the end, under the patient guidance of the keepers, they realized that fighting is not good, especially not good."

Source: Beijing Wildlife Park Official Account

In response to this, some netizens joked that "humans have made animals embarrassed."

Fighting scene at Beijing Wildlife Park

Source: Guangming Daily

Do animals fight because they are imitating humans?

How much of a joke is this statement from the Beijing Zoo? Do animals really imitate human fights? Perhaps, as CCTV News commented on Weibo, this statement from the Beijing Zoo is both serious and humorous, expressing both condemnation of fighting and expectations for civilized order. Later, some netizens found the place where the two tourists fought, and found that there was an ostrich pavilion, an emu pavilion, and a performance area for gorillas and other rare animals next to it.

Regarding this incident, Hangzhou Zoo deputy director Jiang Zhi mentioned in an interview that fighting between gorillas and other animals is a very normal phenomenon. Fighting for food, mates and other reasons can cause animals to fight, but it is not necessarily imitating human behavior.

However, animals do imitate human behavior, especially chimpanzees, which are close relatives of humans, because they have extremely similar genes to humans and have stronger imitation abilities. In particular, if chimpanzees in the zoo animal war also fight, it is likely that the fight will not stop with the persuasion of the keepers alone, because chimpanzee fights often cause serious injuries to the other party.

Gorillas fighting source | People's Daily Online

In addition, the noise from tourists quarreling may stimulate the emotions of animals, causing them to be nervous, which makes it easier for them to fight with each other. Animal imitation behavior can be divided into intentional imitation and unintentional imitation. Circus wild animal performances use rewards and punishments to induce animals to make conditioned reflexes, so that they actively imitate. Some primates with high IQs can even do actions such as unlocking and smoking, but these are learned through long-term learning and imitation, and cannot be learned through a human "performance".

How good are animals at imitating?

Although many people believe that the statement of Beijing Wildlife Park is more of a persuasion factor, it is undeniable that some animals do have a high ability to imitate. Imitation refers to the ability of animals to learn new skills or improve their own skills by observing the behavior of other individuals. This learning ability occurs much more frequently in social animals than in solitary animals, so it is also called social learning. Imitation behavior allows animals to master a skill faster and more directly, and is a more effective and least risky form of learning.

Source | Area 51 Unsolved Mysteries

Among all animals with the ability to imitate, chimpanzees can be said to have the best imitation ability. Yuhui, a chimpanzee at Yonghe Ledu Theme Park in Yongchuan, Chongqing, was once named a "model worker in the animal world" because the chimpanzee was very excited every time he saw the keeper washing clothes. So the keeper placed clothes next to the pool to observe Yuhui's reaction. Yuhui took the initiative to pick up the clothes and started to wash them. His proficiency made the editor feel ashamed. Yuhui also imitated the keeper washing his hands and putting on a mask, but his face was too big to wear it, which made many netizens fall in love with him.

Chimpanzees doing laundry

Source | Screenshot from TikTok

But even though chimpanzees have strong abilities to imitate and learn, they cannot become exactly like humans.

In 1931, foreign psychologist Dr. Kellogg conducted a very controversial experiment. He brought a seven-month-old chimpanzee named Gua home to live with his ten-month-old son Donald. Gua and Donald were placed in the same room and raised in a human way. They were taught human skills, language, etc. Gua even had the same kiss that Donald had.

Slowly, Gu Ya showed a strong ability to learn and imitate, and his behavior was exactly the same as that of humans in infancy, expressing his emotions and needs through behavior. But soon after, Gu Ya's learning ability stopped improving and even stagnated. What was even more unexpected was that Donald began to behave like a chimpanzee and show animality, such as crawling instead of walking upright and howling angrily when angry.

Guya and Donald Source | Sohu.com

The experiment was eventually stopped and the chimpanzee Gu Ya was sent to a primate center. Because he had grown up in a human way, he could no longer integrate into the chimpanzee group and only lived to the age of three. Gu Ya was unable to change his animal nature as a chimpanzee and still liked to crawl and could not learn human language. It can be seen that chimpanzees' imitation ability is also limited, and this experiment has also triggered discussions about scientific ethics.

Do pets imitate their owners?

The answer is yes. Cat owners, please note that your cats also have strong imitative behavior. On September 29, 2020, China Science Daily published an article stating that researchers found a Japanese kitten imitating its owner's behavior.

Ebisu the cat copies the behavior of his owner Fumi Higaki during "do as I do" training

Source | China Science Daily

In people's impression, cats have always been the representatives of aloofness, and some people even say that cats regard themselves as their masters, but this report expounds the opposite view that cats are also observing and imitating humans.

Source: Internet pictures

In addition to cats, parrots, alpacas and other animals also imitate human behavior. Researchers have shown that in artificial breeding conditions, they often imitate their owners. There are even dogs that deliberately imitate the limping of their owners with injured legs. If you encounter such a pet, you really don’t know whether to be angry or funny.