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2011-04-21 09:38:09
By Victoria Gill
Science and nature reporter, BBC News
Footage of a chimpanzee being born has shown that the animals give birth in a way that was thought to be unique to humans.
A team took close-up footage of captive chimps giving birth, which revealed that the newborn emerges from the birth canal facing away from the mother.
Scientists had believed that this birth position evolved in the primate ancestors of modern humans.
These findings could refute that theory.
The researchers filmed three live births for their study, which is published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
The team, from Hayashibara Great Ape Research Institute in Okayama, Japan, lived and even slept in the same enclosures as the captive chimps, to ensure they would be there when they gave birth.
"We have been trying to keep strong relationship with the chimpanzees," lead researcher Satoshi Hirata told BBC News.
"We stayed in the room when they gave birth, so we could record the behaviour with a camera from very close distance."