Scientists think mysterious behaviour of West African chimpanzee could be proof of animal belief in God

German researchers captured on film and analysed the behaviour of chimpanzees in West Africa which could possibly indicate the primates are engaged in spiritual practices. The animal’s act of throwing rocks into holes in trees is even being viewed as a possibility that the chimps believe in God.

The behaviour has a lot of similarity with what primitive human tribes did. They link the chimp’s behaviour with archaeological stone assemblages and the origin of ritual sites in early humans, reports The Telegraph.

Their camera traps recorded the incident on March 24, 2011, at the Sangaredi PanAf temporary research site in Guinea. Before the research, there were already anecdotes and reports of chimps throwing stones in Liberia, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

The study notes that indigenous West African people also collected stones at sacred trees. Humboldt University scientist Laura Kehoe says it is the first time she saw anything like it which gave her the shivers.

The research, published in Nature, also used data from 17 mid- to long-term chimpanzee research sites and samples from 34 Pan troglodytes communities. The scientists found four chimpanzee populations engaged in accumulative stone throwing.

“This represents the first record of repeated observations of individual chimpanzees exhibiting stone tool use for a purpose other than extractive foraging at what appear to be targeted trees,” writes Kehoe. She says the discovery could help them piece together the beginning of human religious rites and its development.

Kehoe explains that their observation of the behaviour could be a more symbolic action than a display of masculinity. “Marking pathways and territories with signposts such as piles of stones is an important stage in human history. Mapping chimps’ territories in relation to stone accumulation sites could give us insights into whether this is the case here,” she adds.

The study points out that stone piles, in contemporary and ancient human societies, are used to mark the landscape’s natural cavities for caching food and as paths and other important places. It is also used as a more symbolic meaning for burials, ceremonial counting and establishment of shrines.