Study: Plants and Apes Also Gamble

This story was published more than 7 years ago.

This week a story on the site Alphr revealed that gambling is not exclusively a human trait, as both plants and apes have proven to exhibit gambling behaviors if they feel that the odds are in their favor.

The story revealed that researchers followed pea plants and chimpanzees, giving the peas a set of planting pots with various nutrients in each and the chimps got a selection of nuts and fruits. Both exhibited the ability to take a risk, with the pea plants taking a gamble by opting to move to a pot where the possibility of higher nutrients was, while the chimps were given the choice of selecting two pieces of fruit or a handful of nuts. The chimps were then given a repeat choice, but with a 50% chance of getting only one piece of fruit, and a third time where they were given one piece of fruit but had a 50% chance of getting an extra piece of fruit. The chimps overwhelmingly played it safe, opting for a pleasant surprise, but still showing a sense of gambling behavior.

Commenting on the plants' behavior, the study's co-author Alex Kacelnik said, "To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an adaptive response to risk in an organism without a nervous system."

"We do not yet know how the plants' sense variance functions, or even if their physiology is specifically adapted to respond to risk, but the findings lead us to look even at pea plants as dynamic strategists and to model their decision processes just as one would model an intelligent agent."

About the author

Dustin Jermalowicz // News Editor
Dustin Jermalowicz
Dustin has a long-standing passion for gambling. He has been writing professionally on the subject and breaking industry news for Casino Listings since 2011. His favorite casino games include Blackjack, Poker, and Hi/Lo. A proud native of Detroit, Dustin currently lives in Michigan.
3 replies • Last post

Comments

bgsharpe
Forum AngelForum Angel
sharpe's picture
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Joined: 4 Nov 2014
Posts: 7646
Thanks given: 4239
Thanks received: 1165
8 July 2016 - 10:43pm
#1

The fact that the plants and the chimps gambling only when the odds are in their favour makes them smarter than....me, I guess 😂

CL-Ed

auCL-Ed
StaffStaff
CL-Ed's picture
Location: Sydney
Joined: 7 Sep 2007
Posts: 10400
Thanks given: 6286
Thanks received: 5350
9 July 2016 - 1:44am
#2

I dunno... when the odds are in your favour it isn't really gambling. I'd call it intelligence.

sharpe

Always play it safe! Consult our list of rogue casinos and warnings before depositing at a new casino.
Post in our forums to earn CLchips which can be used to buy real prizes in our CLchips shop.

bgsharpe
Forum AngelForum Angel
sharpe's picture
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Joined: 4 Nov 2014
Posts: 7646
Thanks given: 4239
Thanks received: 1165
9 July 2016 - 1:50pm
#3

Suppose you have a point there Ed, so these are quite intelligent monkeys there 🙂