Abstract
Objects, forms of ownership, and their meanings are variable among diff erent human societies, as well as in other primates,especially in the great apes. Th e social organization of apes diff ers in many respects from most human societies.
Th is study of the pongids in captivity will help researchers to resolve the question of whether or not apes have object ownership. For our research, observations were carried out at two zoos in the Czech Republic: Dvůr Kralove Zoo and the Prague Zoo.
All the described observations proved that a tendency to own non-feeding objects exists among chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans in captivity. Similar data in both captivity and in the wild has confi rmed that this type of behavior is not random in the great apes, but is deliberate.
In fact, it has been repeatedly observed in all three species of pongids. Th is study has shown that apes possessed objects during non-feeding activities, which suggests a form of object ownership.