A world-first experiment measuring chimpanzee heart rate with a digital camera could help prevent cardiovascular disease in captive great apes and provide valuable insights into how their brains develop from a early age
A non-contact technique was used to obtain heart signals from chimpanzees by filming subtle movements of their face or thorax, and monitoring their emotional response to various stimuli. , a team of researchers led by the University of South Australia (UniSA) made some surprising discoveries. . The study was published in Behavioral Research Methods.
Chimpanzees—our closest living relatives—show similar responses to human infants when they experience fear, excitement, or happiness, which causes their heart rate to slow.
Their response to videos of nature scenes is also similar to humans, relaxing them and lowering their heart rate significantly, despite being unfamiliar with the environment.
By monitoring their heartbeats remotely, researchers are confident they can detect early signs of heart disease in chimpanzees—one of the leading causes of mortality among captive great apes— and flag these endangered animals for treatment.
Seven chimpanzees were filmed in captivity from a distance at the Wolfgang Koehler Primate Research Center in Leipzig, Germany, for the study. UniSA engineers sent the footage and used artificial intelligence to determine the heart rate.
UniSA remote sensing engineer Professor Javaan Chahl said it was the first time a chimpanzee’s heart rate had been recorded with a digital camera, which picked up heart signals from their facial expressions using algorithms. in image processing.
Previous studies have relied on sensors attached to the chimpanzee’s body, requiring captive monkeys to be trained to tolerate them, or ensuring the animal is anesthetized before performing basic health checks.
The researchers not only recorded the chimpanzee’s heartbeats using the new technology, but also compared how the monkeys’ heart rates changed when shown videos of aggressive behavior between chimpanzees. from different groups, scenes of chimpanzees eating, and nature videos.
Lead author, UniSA Ph.D. student Danyi Wang, says the monkey’s heart rate increased when watching video footage of chimps fighting and feeding, and slowed when watching scenes of nature.
“Changes in heart rate can be linked to emotional responses, mental effort, attention and focus,” Danyi said. “Children show emotional responses early in development, which can be observed in physiological changes that help them adapt and integrate with their environment. We observed the same in chimpanzees that we guarded.
“Their responses to viewing nature scenes may be an innate physiological response to the natural world. We know that when people spend time in nature, or look at stimuli associated with nature, it has a calming effect. It appears that nature has a similar effect on chimpanzees, and it may be deeply rooted in our evolutionary history.”
Because monkeys share the same DNA as humans, monitoring their physiological changes can provide important information about the development of their thinking, attention, speech, learning, memory and vision. .
Prof Chahl says, as with human infants, heart rate measures can be used to test recognition memory and therefore help reveal mental processes in different contexts.
“This will not only complement existing efforts to understand the evolution of cognition, but it will also enable us to test populations that otherwise do not engage in cognitive tasks, such as very young or untrained individuals. monkey.”
Cardiovascular disease is very common in captive great apes, mostly due to age-related changes, thickening of the heart muscle and reduced elasticity. By monitoring their heart, researchers believe they can detect abnormal heart rhythms and possible signs of heart disease earlier.
“Our non-contact method opens new routes to study the emotional and cognitive behavior of primates and may also improve the health management of a wide range of animals,” said Prof Chahl.
More information:
Danyi Wang et al, Estimation of cardiac signals in chimpanzees using a digital camera: validation and application of a novel non-invasive method for primate research, Behavioral Research Methods (2023). DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02136-y
Provided by the University of South Australia
Citation: Chimpanzee heart check by digital camera may help prevent cardiovascular disease (2023, July 4) retrieved on July 4, 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2023-07-chimpanzee-heart-digital -camera-curb.html
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