Shiny objects sure are pretty. Humans have been picking them up for hundreds of thousands of years and admiring them, sometimes keeping them as good luck charms, as spiritual cleansing devices, as investment pieces, as jewelry. It makes sense that a new study found that we might not be the only primates wired to be fascinated by shiny objects like crystals.
Researchers studying chimpanzees at a rehabilitation center near Madrid found that the animals showed a fascination with crystals, one so intense that they would immediately grab them and then would refuse to give them back.
The research, published in Frontiers in Psychology and reported by The New York Times, explores whether our human attraction to shiny minerals may extend deep into the psychology of our primate cousins.
The project was led by crystallographer Juan Manuel García‑Ruiz of the Donostia International Physics Center. Archaeological discoveries show that early human ancestors collected quartz crystals as far back as 700,000 years ago, even though they didn’t appear to have used them as tools or ornaments. García-Ruiz wanted to know whether the appeal of crystals might be instinctive.
Chimpanzees Know a Good Crystal When They See One
To test the idea, researchers sat large quartz crystals on pedestals alongside ordinary sandstone rocks. When the chimps saw them, they overwhelmingly preferred the crystals. In one group, an alpha female named Manuela snatched all the crystals off its stand. Another chip named Yvan carried the heavy quartz crystal around the enclosure while climbing and eating, constantly passing it between hands and feet, refusing to let it go no matter what it was doing.
In a different enclosure, the experiment came to a hilariously abrupt end when a chimp named Sandy grabbed both the crystal quartz and the sandstone and made away with them into the chimp dormitory, where caretakers rarely enter. Getting them back was essentially a hostage negotiation that required a little bribery with bananas and yogurt.
In another experiment, the team scattered piles of pebbles around that had smaller crystals mixed in. The chimpanzees consistently picked out the crystals, holding them to the light before returning them to their hands and sometimes carrying them away to their nests.
The researchers can only speculate as to why the chimps are attracted to the crystals. So far they suspect that the chimps are enamored with the crystal’s transparency and reflective surfaces, something that García-Ruiz has speculated probably similarly fascinated early humans.
What the behavior ultimately means may take a while to be fully understood, but one thing it makes abundantly clear is that, like us, chimpanzees have expensive taste.
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