Teenage years are wild years.
During puberty, the brain rewires, and the body and behavior change.
Driven by sex hormones, teenagers are suddenly ashamed of their parents, dream of passionate kisses - and start to smell.
Parents like to call the children's room a "monkey pen", and the bestseller "Pubertier" also plays with the animalistic aspects of adolescence.
However, this does monkeys an injustice, as US anthropologists report in the "Journal of Experimental Psychology": They examined the impulsiveness and risk-taking behavior of chimpanzees during puberty, which they experience between the ages of 8 and 15.
Although they do not secretly smoke e-cigarettes, they do turn to their peers and are aggressive.
40 young chimpanzees took part in the experiments.
In the first attempt, they chose between two containers.
One contained peanuts in each round, the other either a less appetizing food (cucumbers) or the favorite food (bananas).
Older animals took the safer route and stuck to the peanuts, pubescent chimpanzees chose the uncertain treat.
Chimpanzees are more risk-averse when they are young, as are humans.
The second experiment tested impulsiveness: the monkeys could either eat a piece of banana immediately or receive three pieces after waiting one minute.
Surprisingly, the animal teens waited just as patiently as the adult monkeys.
"Our study shows that, in contrast to humans, their ability to delay rewards matured at a relatively young age," says lead author Alexandra Rosati.
In young children, impulse control is often tested with sweets.
It would be interesting to see which rewards were chosen in the studies with teenagers that underlie Rosati's harsh judgement.
A cucumber?
A thousand followers on Tiktok?
An autograph from Harry Styles?
Maybe researchers - like parents - just need to find something that teenagers love as much as monkeys love bananas, and they'll become quite tame.