The cooperative pulling paradigm is an experimental design in which two or more animals

pull rewards towards themselves via an apparatus that they cannot successfully operate alone.
Researchers (ethologists, comparative psychologists, and evolutionary psychologists) use
cooperative pulling experiments to try to understand how cooperation works and how and when it
may have evolved.
The type of apparatus used in cooperative pulling experiments can vary. Researcher Meredith
Crawford, who invented the experimental paradigm in 1937, used a mechanism consisting of two
ropes attached to a rolling platform that was too heavy to be pulled by a single chimpanzee. The
standard apparatus is one in which a single string or rope is threaded through loops on a movable
platform. If only one participant pulls the string, it comes loose and the platform can no longer be
retrieved. Only by pulling together in coordination can the participants be successful; success by
chance is highly unlikely. Some researchers have designed apparatus that involve handles instead of
ropes.
Although many animals retrieve rewards in their cooperative pulling tasks, the conclusions
regarding cooperation are mixed and complex.
Chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, capuchins, tamarins, wolves, elephants, ravens,
and keas appear to understand the requirements of the task. For example, in a delay condition, the
first animal has access to the apparatus before the other. If the animal waits for its partner before
pulling, this suggests an understanding of cooperation. Chimpanzees, elephants, wolves, dogs,
ravens, and keas wait; grey parrots, rooks, and otters fail to wait. Chimpanzees actively solicit help
when needed. They appear to recall previous outcomes to recruit the most effective partner. In a
group setting, chimpanzees punish initial competitive behavior (taking food without pulling,
displacing animals) such that eventually successful cooperation becomes the norm.
As for the evolution of cooperation, evidence from cooperative pulling experiments provides
support for the theory that cooperation evolved multiple times independently. The fact that basic
characteristics of cooperation are present in some mammals and some birds points to a case
of convergent evolution. Within social animals, cooperation is suspected to be a
cognitive adaptation. The ability of humans to cooperate is likely to have been inherited from an
ancestor shared with at least chimpanzees and bonobos. The superior scale and range of human
cooperation comes mainly from the ability to use language to exchange social information.