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Chimps may lack some of the intelligence of humans, but when it comes to competition, they can outwit even the smartest competitor.

Researchers from Kyoto, Japan discovered our distant ancestors are better at predicting how opponents will behave, and remembering the tactics their rivals have used before.

They claim this is because chimps have better short-term memory and are more competitive by nature, while humans are encouraged to be more cooperative.

Scientists at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute pitted chimps against humans in competition in a simple game of hide-and-seek called the Inspection Game. They discovered our distant ancestors are better at predicting how opponents will behave, and remembering the tactics their rivals used previously

Scientists at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute pitted chimps against humans in a simple game of hide-and-seek called the Inspection Game.

Either two chimps or two humans played the games in which the pairs sat back-to-back facing computer screens.

The object was to select one of two blue boxes on the left or right side of the screen, and then show each opponent the choices made.

The goal of the players in the 'hiding' role - the 'mismatchers' - was to choose the opposite of their opponent's selection.

Players in the 'seeking' role - the 'matchers' - won if they made the same choices as their opponent.

If players were to win repeatedly and get a reward, they had to accurately predict what their opponent would do next, anticipating their strategy.

Researchers found chimps consistently outperformed humans, in the study published in Scientific Reports.

It is argued chimps are more competitive with one another than humans, and create and continuously update a strong status and dominance hierarchy. Humans, instead, have to be more more social and cooperative (stock image pictured), to succeed in the workplace, for example

Professor Colin Camerer said: 'While young chimpanzees hone their competitive skills with constant practice, playing hide-and-seek and wrestling their human counterparts shift at a young age from competition to cooperation using our special skill at language.'

Professor Camerer said superior chimpanzee performance could be due to excellent short-term memory, a particular strength in chimps.

It is argued chimps are more competitive with one another than humans because they must create and continuously update a strong status and dominance hierarchy.

Humans are more prosocial and cooperative, past research showed.

Although these explanations remain speculative, eventually new technologies will make it possible to 'map out the set of brain circuits that humans and chimps rely upon so we can discover whether or not human strategic choices go down a longer pathway or get diffused into different parts of the brain compared to chimps,' concluded Professor Camerer.