Chimpanzees Showcase Unique Fashion Sense with Unexpected Grass Accessories in Nature Reserve

In addition to speech and to be (more) intelligent, the sense of fashion is what could differentiate us from our simial cousins? You surely know the answer, but recently, a study published in the journal Behaviour July 4, 2025 reported the appearance of a fashion effect in the chimpanzees of the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia.

Indeed, animal behaviorists have noticed that chimpanzees of a sanctuary in Zambia began to resume a fashion which had been observed the first time in the early 2010s and reported in a study of 2014. She saw the chimpanzees proudly wearing a touch of grass which exceeded their ear.

However, there is a twist. More recently, if the grass in the ear is apparently a classic of Simian fashion, a group has stood out by bringing a small variation. Thus, it is no longer only in the ear that the strand of grass is put, but in the buttocks.

But where does this new habit of chimpanzees come from?

If such a observation can of course laugh, because it is true that it must be quite surprising to see a chimpanzee proudly sport a touch of grass in the ear or even in the buttocks, animal behaviorists have wondered about the origin of this new fashion.

They eliminated the transmission from one group to another. Indeed, the group in question in the study published in the review Springer Nature In 2014, and the one that was studied between 2023 and 2024, have no contact. Each at home and the sprigs of herbs will be well kept.

The researchers also eliminated the possibility of a pure chance where the two groups would have started to develop a particular fashion. But then, how two different chimpanzee groups were able to launch such a trendy fashion in the animal world.

It was then that an hypothesis was issued. These chimpanzees, although they are in a sanctuary, have trainers. And sometimes a healer can take care of several groups of chimpanzees. So no, it is not a healer who gave the idea to the monkeys to put strands of herbs in the buttocks, on the other hand for the ears it is possible.

Indeed, in a declaration disseminated by the University of Utrecht, Edwin Van Leeuwen, principal author of the studies mentioned, issued an interesting hypothesis.

“” “These healers said they sometimes put a touch of grass or a match in their own ears to clean them. Careers of other groups said they did not do this. The chimpanzees of the second group then understood that they could also plant a touch of grass in another place.»

According to researchers, the new fashion for chimpanzees was born from a male who managed to popularize the trend in just one week. A perfectly winning marketing blow. Some brands would dream of being able to do the same.

Help that can be observed in the wild?

With regard to the conclusions of the study, do not expect to see chimpanzees in the great outdoors soon for a bit of grass in the buttocks or in the ears. Indeed, researchers believe that such behavior has been able to develop by the fact that animals live in captivity.

Less on the alert and spending less time having to seek food or to escape predators, “They have much more free time than in nature“Said Edwin Van Leeuwen. Thus, this leaves time for the chimpanzees to develop traditions that allow social cohesion.

“” “By imitating the behavior of another individual, you show that you notice this individual and that you may even appreciate him. This can therefore help strengthen social ties and create a feeling of belonging to the group, as in humans”Concludes the researcher on the Dutch University site.

Source: Utrecht University