Risk Sensitivity and Phylogenetic Reconstruction

Working with four chimpanzees, the authors of this paper challenge the idea of the use of species specific behavior in phylogenetic reconstructions, specifically in regards to risk sensitivity. Studies in primate risk sensitivity have been conducted with phylogenetic goals, such as determining risk preferences for a single primate species or a group of primate species. This has lead to lemurs being characterized as risk averse and chimpanzees being characterized as risk prone. In order to challenge this idea, the authors tested four chimpanzees preferences to different feeding stations that changed via mean reward quantity, reward type, context, and experimental designs. The authors noted that chimpanzee preference and risk changed based off of these differences. The authors concluded that risk sensitivity changes between individuals based off of the context of risk and the individuals present. The authors close note that this is not conducive to assessing species specific behavior or constructing/enforcing phylogenies.


You can find the link to the article here

-Leanne