Other-regarding preferences in a non-human primate: Common marmosets provision food altruistically

doi:10.1073/pnas.0710310104

Other-regarding preferences in a non-human primate: Common marmosets provision food altruistically

*Anthropological Institute, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland;
^‡Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, University of Zurich, Blumlisalpstrasse 10, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland;
^§Collegium Helveticum, Schmelzbergstrasse 25, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland; and
^¶Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Communicated by Sarah B. Hrdy, University of California at Davis, Winters, CA, October 30, 2007 (received for review October 7, 2007)

Abstract

Human cooperation is unparalleled in the animal world and rests on an altruistic concern for the welfare of genetically unrelated strangers. The evolutionary roots of human altruism, however, remain poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests a discontinuity between humans and other primates because individual chimpanzees do not spontaneously provide food to other group members, indicating a lack of concern for their welfare. Here, we demonstrate that common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) do spontaneously provide food to nonreciprocating and genetically unrelated individuals, indicating that other-regarding preferences are not unique to humans and that their evolution did not require advanced cognitive abilities such as theory of mind. Because humans and marmosets are cooperative breeders and the only two primate taxa in which such unsolicited prosociality has been found, we conclude that these prosocial predispositions may emanate from cooperative breeding.

Footnotes

^†To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: judith.burkart{at}aim.uzh.ch
Author contributions: J.M.B., E.F., C.E., and C.P.v.S. designed research; J.M.B. performed research; E.F. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; J.M.B., C.E., and C.P.v.S. analyzed data; and J.M.B., E.F., C.E., and C.P.v.S. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0710310104/DC1.