Painting to improve welfare. A comparative analysis of artistic behavior and aesthetics in chimpanzee and human

Most of the studies on aesthetics seem to show that it is a peculiar characteristic of the human species, or the aesthetic sense of humans significantly differs from that of other animals, because man would be the only one who enjoy the beauty and produce art for pleasure. With this research we want to contribute to the discussion on aesthetics by applying a comparative approach between human and non-human primates. Our aim is to determine whether and how painting activity influences the behavioral repertoire of the individuals and their welfare. We organized painting sessions involving 8 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) housed in Fundació Mona (Spain) and 8 preschool children of Tarragona (Spain). We recorded and compared their behavior before, during and after the painting activity. The results show that both chimpanzees and children like to spend time painting when they have the opportunity; this activity stimulates positive behaviors and, therefore, affects their welfare. We also analyzed the paintings obtained using a questionnaire (APPQ), demonstrating the efficiency of this tool in measuring aesthetics. Assessments with acceptable standards of inter-rater reliability and validity, demonstrate that paintings of both chimpanzees and children present an aesthetic structure based on 8 and 7 factors including aesthetics, use of space, direction of the brushstrokes, shapes and colors. Our intention is to contribute shed some light on the origin of artistic behavior. We highlight that this is a preliminary study involving a small sample, but it should be repeated and reinforced by broadening and diversifying the study sample.