Man is in constant search of dizziness. Drugs such as alcohol are one example of this. Other primates also want this – but without substances.
Warwick – Man is an excessively addictive being. He is too good for almost nothing that harms his body: around 2.8 million people worldwide die from alcohol alone every year. When it comes to smoking, the figure is even 7.6 million people a year. It’s no longer a secret that man has been in search of intoxication for as long as he has existed. But what about the animal kingdom? Studies have shown that gorillas and other primates also occasionally want to get intoxicated. But they don’t need any mind-altering substances for that: they go in circles.
Gorillas spin in circles to alter consciousness
“Every culture has found a way of avoiding reality through dedicated and particular rituals, practices or ceremonies,” said Adriano Lameira, associate professor of psychology at the University of Warwick, in one press release. “This human trait of seeking altered states is so universal historically and culturally that it raises the intriguing possibility that this is something that may have been inherited from our evolutionary ancestors.”
A university study recently published in the journal Primates shows that gorillas voluntarily spin in circles to alter their state of consciousness. Inspired by a viral video of a male gorilla spinning in a pool, the team found dozens of videos of gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans spinning in circles, often using ropes or vines.
Primates are looking for dizziness – not only through drugs
The researchers analyzed the movements and found that the monkeys rotated an average of 5.5 times per session, at an average speed of 1.5 rotations per second. Most animals then repeated the session three times in a row. That’s about as fast as professional dancers or circus performers twirl, according to the authors.
The desire for dizziness would also exist in the human being. But so far, these studies have only been limited to alcohol and other drug use. But the authors of the study believe that it would be worthwhile taking a closer look at the simple turning and the associated dizziness. “After all, the ability to create or find mind-altering substances requires knowledge, skills, and tools that we’re not sure humans or pre-humans had access to,” explains Lameira.
Gorillas go in circles – captivity could play a role
However, it could also be a connection between mental state and boredom, since the videos analyzed were particularly of monkeys in captivity. Only last A video of captive monkeys went viral when a young specimen threw stones.
“What we were trying to understand through this study is whether spiders can be studied as a primordial behavior that human ancestors would have been able to engage in autonomously and tap into other states of consciousness,” Lamiera said. “If all great apes seek dizziness, then most likely our ancestors did, too.”
In Brazil, fishermen work alongside other clever animals. They follow directions from wild dolphins to know where to cast their nets.
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