(SOUNDBITE OF STEVEN GUTHEINZ'S "BALBOA")
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Sibling rivalry can be intense between young children.
(Impersonating angry parent) Leave me alone while I'm combing your sister's hair.
It's easy to imagine a mother or father barking those words to one of their children who's jealous of a sibling getting so much attention. New scientific research shows sibling rivalry also occurs among chacma baboons, especially during grooming. Scientists spent months following two wild troops of chacmas in Namibia. They observed that when parent baboons groomed one of their children, other children tried to interrupt the parent with outbursts, tantrums and even trickery. Maybe that was justified by another observation scientists made. The parent baboons played favorites.
Not many studies have been done on how nonhuman primates display jealousy. In this research, most of the time, the jealousy didn't pay off, the interruptions were ignored and the parent baboon continued grooming. Maybe they just sent the youngster to a time out. But these findings do raise questions about the evolutionary value of envy. Scientists don't have the answers yet, but one thing has become far more clear. Humans aren't the only beings with complex emotions.
(SOUNDBITE OF STEVEN GUTHEINZ'S "BALBOA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
