I noticed that you mentioned:
* Sympathy as expressed in succor
* Special treatment of the disadvantaged
* Cognitive empathy
. I am sure that chimps help out other healthy chimps of their troop. But
remember what I posted about the chimps reaction to a really sick one?
There was a polio outbreak in the chimp tribe Goodall was watching and it
afflicted many of the chimps. One named McGregor was paralyzed by the
polio. When this newly paralyzed chimp drug himself back to camp, Goodall
reports:
"One of the most tragic things about the whole tragic affair was the
reaction of the chimps to the stricken paralyzed male. Initially, almost
certainly, they were frightened by the strangeness of his condition. We
noticed the same thing when some of the other polio victims appeared in
camp for the first time. " Jane Goodall, "In the Shadow of Man" Houghton
Mifflin 1971, p. 221
"McGregor's condition was patently far worse. Not only was he forced
to move about in an abnormal manner, but there was the smell of urine and
the bleeding rump and the swarm of flies buzzing around him. The first
morning of his return to camp, as he sat in the long grass below the
feeding area, the adult males, one after the other, approached with their
hair on end, and after staring began to display around him. Goliath
actually attacked the stricken old male, who, powerless to flee or defend
himself in any way, could only cower down, his face split by a hideous
grin of terror, while goliath pounded on his back. When another adult
male bore down on McGregor, hair bristling, huge branch flailing the
ground, Hugo and I went to stand in front of the cripple. To our relief,
the displaying male turned aside.
"After two or three days the others got used to McGregors strange
appearance and grotesque movements, but they kept well away from him.
There was one afternoon that without doubt was from my point of view the
most painful of the whole ten days. A group of eight chimps had gathered
and were grooming each other in a tree about sixty yards from where
McGregor lay in his nest. The sick male stared toward them, occassionally
giving slight grunts. Mutual grooming normally takes up a good deal of a
chimpanzees time, and the old male had been drastically starved of this
important social contact since his illness.
"Finally he dragged himself from his nest, lowered himself to the
ground, and in short stages began the long journey to join the others.
When at last he reached the tree he rested briefly in the shade; then,
making the final effort he pulled himself up until he was close to two
grooming males. With a loud grunt of pleasure he reached a hand toward
them in greeting--but even before he made contact they both had swung
quickly away and without a backward glance started grooming on the far
side of the tree. For a full two minutes old Gregor sat motionless,
staring after them. And then he laboriously lowered himself to the
ground. As I watched him sitting there alone, my vision blurred, and when
I looked up at the groomers in the tree I came nearer to hating a
chimpanzee than I have ever been before or since."Jane Goodall, "In the Shadow
of Man" Houghton Mifflin 1971, p. 221
Yep. That sounds special treatment of the disadvantaged, sypathetic succor
and empathy to me.
You mentioned:
* Concern for community
I also note that the article says that "In nature, [chimps] are actually among
the least social species of primates" p. 177 Sept, 1996 Scientific American.
They are so concerned for their community that in nature the males spend 30
percent of their time alone and females with young spend 65% on their own.
glenn
Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm