Going for a wee is contagious in chimps, scientists find

It's something humans and animals do everyday - go to the toilet - but do you ever find that when people around need a wee, you realise you do too?

Well you're in good company, as scientists in Japan have been studying when and why our close relatives, chimpanzees, have the urge to go - and they say that weeing is contagious!

The study by Kyoto University in Japan has been published in the Current Biology journal.

The team discovered the decision to urinate is a "complex combination" of needing to wee, but also a part of social behaviour.

How did scientists study the weeing habits of chimpanzees?

The urge to wee trickles through the group

A group of 20 chimpanzees were studied over 600 hours, and they leaked their weeing world of secrets.

Scientists recorded the number of times they went within a minute of each other and compared this to sessions using randomised computer data.

The results showed the observed rate was higher than the computer data.

This supports the idea that the chimpanzees were going after seeing others taking a tinkle, rather than at random times.

Chimpanzees who were less dominant in the group were more likely to follow the lead of others.

Why is weeing socially important for chimpanzees?

The toilet time is also good for group bonding

The study says that going to the toilet together may be important for establishing and maintaining bonds among a group.

In the wild, it also prepares chimps to leave a place together, ahead of some long-distance travel.

The scent from their wee also marks their territory.

The team now wants to study what social cues and triggers may lead to this trickle effect.