INTELLIGENT APES
orangutan experiment in 1907
Apes like bonobos enjoy being tickled. Kanzi, a bonobo, likes oranges, cherries and grapes. He points to what he wants on a lexigram, a computerised touchscreen device on which each symbol represents a word. Kanzi can use 500 words and when he is talked to, he can understand a few thousand. He also likes marshmallows. He will strike matches to light a fire, then warm some on a stick. Although he cannot talk like us, Kanzi transformed our ideas about our primate relatives — and in turn, our ideas about ourselves.
Chimpanzees communicate in many ways, such as pant-hooting, and can learn to cook food, although they do need to be prompted. The chimpanzee Kumamoto has been observed eye-tracking. [Source: Associated Press, October 6, 2016]
Ape Experiments
Elizabeth Kolbert wrote in The New Yorker: “The Leipzig Zoo lies on the opposite side of the city from the Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, but the institute has its own lab building on the grounds, as well as specially designed testing rooms inside the ape house, which is known as Pongoland. Since none of our very closest relatives survive (except as little bits in us), researchers have to rely on our next closest kin, chimpanzees and bonobos, and our somewhat more distant cousins—gorillas and orangutans—to perform live experiments. (The same or, at least, analogous experiments are usually also performed on small children, to see how they compare.) One morning, I went to the zoo, hoping to watch an experiment in progress. That day, a BBC crew was also visiting Pongoland, to film a program on animal intelligence, and when I arrived at the ape house I found it strewn with camera cases marked “Animal Einsteins.” [Source: Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, August 15, 2011]
“For the benefit of the cameras, a researcher named Héctor Marín Manrique was preparing to reënact a series of experiments he’d performed earlier in a more purely scientific spirit. A female orangutan named Dokana was led into one of the testing rooms. Like most orangutans, she had copper-colored fur and a world-weary expression. In the first experiment, which involved red juice and skinny tubes of plastic, Dokana showed that she could distinguish a functional drinking straw from a non-functional one. In the second, which involved more red juice and more plastic, she showed that she understood the idea of a straw by extracting a rod from a length of piping and using the pipe to drink through. Finally, in a Mensa-level show of pongid ingenuity, Dokana managed to get at a peanut that Manrique had placed at the bottom of a long plastic cylinder. (The cylinder was fixed to the wall, so it couldn’t be knocked over.) She fist-walked over to her drinking water, took some water in her mouth, fist-walked back, and spit into the cylinder. She repeated the process until the peanut floated within reach. Later, I saw this experiment re-staged with some five-year-old children, using little plastic containers of candy in place of peanuts. Even though a full watering can had been left conspicuously nearby, only one of the kids—a girl—managed to work her way to the floating option, and this was after a great deal of prompting. (“How would water help me?” one of the boys asked, just before giving up.)”
Human Children Versus Apes
Elizabeth Kolbert wrote in The New Yorker: “One way to try to answer the question “What makes us human?” is to ask “What makes us different from apes?,” or, to be more precise, from nonhuman apes, since, of course, humans are apes. As just about every human by now knows—and as the experiments with Dokana once again confirm—nonhuman apes are extremely clever. They’re capable of making inferences, of solving complex puzzles, and of understanding what others are (and are not) likely to know. When researchers from Leipzig performed a battery of tests on chimpanzees, orangutans, and two-and-a-half-year-old children, they found that the chimps, the orangutans, and the kids performed comparably on a wide range of tasks that involved understanding of the physical world. For example, if an experimenter placed a reward inside one of three cups, and then moved the cups around, the apes found the goody just as often as the kids—indeed, in the case of chimps, more often. The apes seemed to grasp quantity as well as the kids did—they consistently chose the dish containing more treats, even when the choice involved using what might loosely be called math—and also seemed to have just as good a grasp of causality. (The apes, for instance, understood that a cup that rattled when shaken was more likely to contain food than one that did not.) And they were equally skillful at manipulating simple tools. [Source: Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, August 15, 2011]
“Where the kids routinely outscored the apes was in tasks that involved reading social cues. When the children were given a hint about where to find a reward—someone pointing to or looking at the right container—they took it. The apes either didn’t understand that they were being offered help or couldn’t follow the cue. Similarly, when the children were shown how to obtain a reward, by, say, ripping open a box, they had no trouble grasping the point and imitating the behavior. The apes, once again, were flummoxed. Admittedly, the kids had a big advantage in the social realm, since the experimenters belonged to their own species. But, in general, apes seem to lack the impulse toward collective problem-solving that’s so central to human society.”
“Chimps do a lot of incredibly smart things,” Michael Tomasello, who heads up the institute’s department of developmental and comparative psychology, told the The New Yorker. “But the main difference we’ve seen is ‘putting our heads together.’ If you were at the zoo today, you would never have seen two chimps carry something heavy together. They don’t have this kind of collaborative project.”
Orangutan Intelligence and Mental Life
Orangutans in laboratory situations have learned sign language about as fast and effectively as their gorilla and chimpanzee counterparts. They were able to identify objects, answer questions and explain what they wanted to eat. When orangutans in the wild encounter humans for the first time they tend to drop branches on them, smack their lips loudly and make other vocalizations.
Orangutans show cognitive complexity and flexibility rivaling that of chimps and maintains cultural traditions in the wild. "Azy has a rich mental life," Rob Shumaker told National Geographic of his study subject and friend of 25 years. "Orangutans are on equal cognitive footing with African apes, or even surpass them on some tasks."
Jennifer Holland wrote in National Geographic: “Not only does Azy communicate his thoughts with abstract keyboard symbols, he also demonstrates a "theory of mind" (understanding another individual's perspective) and makes logical, thoughtful choices that show a mental flexibility some chimpanzees lack. In the wild, orangutans keep innovative cultural traditions: Some groups construct foraging tools for extracting insects from tree holes; others use leaves as rain hats or napkins, wad them up as pillows, or line their hands with them when climbing a spiky tree. And in rare instances orangutans will twist leaves into bundles and cradle them like dolls. [Source: National Geographic , March 2008]
Orangutan make lousy house mates. Galdikas and Brindamour complained that the orangutans that stayed with them ate, drank and ripped open anything the can get their hands on; opened childproof drug containers; and squeezed out all the contents of glue bottles and toothpaste tubes. Not only did the orangutans sleep on their bed they also tore open the mattresses and pillows to get at the edible seeds on the inside. Closing the windows and doors wasn't enough to keep them out. The orange apes simply tore down the walls and knocked holes in the roof to get in.
The problems didn't stop there. They ate candles, drank shampoo and sucked on batteries like lifesavers. Usually not satisfied with drinking milk they also like to gargle with it and spit it out all over each other. One had a fancy for flashlight bulbs and another like to suck all the ink out of fountain pens.
Orangutans also like to play with dogs, cats and small children. They enjoy kissing and scratching their playmates but what seems to give the orangutans the greatest pleasure is placing their friends on their head. In zoos, stressed out orangutans respond well to aroma therapy and are particularly relaxed by rose oil.
Orangutans have been killed for raiding crops. Other have their fingers chopped for stealing eggs. Humans who have been attacked or injured by orangutans usually provoked the animals in some way.
See Separate Article: ORANGUTANS, INTELLIGENCE AND HUMANS factsanddetails.com
Chimpanzees, Bonobos and Language
“Even though chimpanzee can not speak words and use language as humans do it is “clear that they have a complex system of communication. Chimpanzees lack the vocal structures to make the sounds we do. But language is more than spoken words: gestures and facial expressions also play an important role. When you take that into account, chimps suddenly don't look so bad at language. [Source: Melissa Hogenboom, BBC, July 3, 2015 |::|]
“Chimpanzees do not have our advanced skills but they have many of the components of language. Kanzi the bonobo, with his language skills, is an extreme case – and he was trained by humans. But there is plenty that chimps can do for themselves. Chimps have intricate ways of communicating with each other For instance, one study found that chimps beckon in the same way we do. Other work identified 66 distinct gestures, which all conveyed meaningful information. They even have cultural variations for the world "apple", which were discovered when a group of Dutch chimps was re-homed to a Scottish zoo. |::|
“It is clear that chimps, like many other species, have intricate ways of communicating with each other. The fault has been ours: we have been slow to understand what they are saying. The more we look for similarities between humans and our relatives, the more we find. "For biologists we are one species out of many," says de Waal. The differences are not stark and absolute, but rather a matter of degree He points to the way chimps kiss and embrace after a fight, in order to make up, just as humans do. "If you want to… say it's a very different behaviour, then the burden falls on you to explain what's so different about what the chimpanzees and humans are doing," says de Waal. |::|
“There's no doubt that human abilities are more developed than those of chimps, particularly when it comes to spoken language. The point is that the differences are not stark and absolute, but rather a matter of degree – and they get subtler the more we investigate them. By that measure, humans are no more unique than any other animal.” |::|
Chimpanzee Communication and Language
Kanzi conversing
Chimpanzees make a low pitched "hoo" when they greet one another, and sometimes they embrace, shake hands and wave their hands in the air. They makes a series of low grunts if they come across a food they like. When a chimpanzee is angry or facing down a predator it goes "wraaaaah." When males are on a ridge top they hoot loudly to let others in the valley know his location. Chimps also use body language and gestures to communicate. They even beg like humans by holding their hand out, palm up and hoot in a questioning way..
"If you judged from sound alone," Jane Goodall says, "you would imagine wild chimpanzees were always fighting and quarreling. When two groups meet there is sometimes a fantastic cacophony, as the males call loudly , drum on tree trunks, and shake branches, while the females and youngsters scream and rush out of the way. But this merely excitement and pleasure; with his highly emotional extrovert temperament, the chimpanzee likes to express his feelings and actions. When squabbles do arise, often over the merest triviality, they are usually settled by gestures and loud protests.” Chimpanzees in Côte d'Ivoire communicate with one another by thumping on tree trunks. When you approach a chimp you should always shake a few branches to let them know you are coming.
Chimps may have a complex language but scientist can only "guess at the content of the information passed." A study published din Science in January 1998, revealed that chimpanzees have a so-called "language center" in their brains similar to that of humans.
Chimpanzees in the laboratory have, like gorillas, been taught to use sign language. Washoe, a female chimp, was the first non-human to learn to communicate using American sign language. In 1967 Washoe signed "gimme sweet", which some argued was an example of a sentence and a combination of signs to express seff-desire. Funding was eventfully cut off for the project involving Washoe because it was believed she was only imitating and responding to subtle clues, not using language. [Source: Eugene Linden, National Geographic . March 1992]
Kanzi: the Word- and Syntax-Using Bonobo
A bonobo named Kanzi (born 1980) uses and understands words and syntax, his keepers claim, which had long been though to have been the realm of human beings. He understands the difference between "take the potato outdoors" and "go outdoors and get the potato" and between "put the raisin in the water" and “put water in the raisins," which are taken as understanding syntax. [Source: Sharon Begley, Newsweek,January 19, 1998]
Bonobos look very similar to chimpanzees but are a different species. Kanzi uses lexigrams on computer that represent words. He types at the keyboard. Researcher Sue Savage-Rumbaugh at Georgia Sate University says "Kanzi easily identifies words spoken by complete strangers and can echo them by pressing the correct key on the lexigram board." He can also carry out weird commands like "Put the keys in the refrigerator."
Kanzi has learned 256 geometric symbols in such a way that it suggested he understands word order. Kanzai has invented pahrases such "green banana" for a cucumber and "water bird" for a swan. He has picked up a syringe after hearing "give the dog a shot",
Kanzai was reportedly the first primate to learn language "naturally." He picked up his first words while trainers were teaching his adoptive mothers. In his free time he liked to watch Tarzan movies and Clint Eastwood orangutan films. He also liked it when her trainer dressed up in a gorilla suit and prefers burritos over tacos.
Koko and Gorilla Communications
Gorillas bark when alarmed, and belch as a greeting. Harsh pig grunts are signs of disapproval. Sharp hoot barks means they are particularly alarmed. "Belch vocalizations" are associated with eating. These noises were thought to be the sound of stomach rumblings but they are in fact a type of communication. Fossey said the noises were "exchanged in situations of maximum contentment." "Pig grunt" noises are used when a mother scolds her young and when the silverback is disciplining a member of the group. "Hoot barks" are made when the gorillas are curious as well as alarmed. A folded arm gesture mean no-harm. Gorillas beat their chests as a way of releasing tension and warning intruders. According to Fossey a deep throated call of "Noaom, naoom, naoom" means "Food is served. Come and get it!"
As is true with chimpanzees, there isn’t much difference genetically between gorillas and humans. One of the most famous gorillas was a female named Koko. She used and understood over 1,000 sign language symbols and communicated on the Internet. She lived in California and died there in 2018. As of 1990, she could speak 800 sign language words.
In a seven year period Koko learned to "speak" using American sign language. During that period she used 645 different symbols; 375 of them on a regular basis. She used signs for words like “stethoscope,” “friend,” “belly button,” and “airplane.” She could make sentences, joke around and even lie. When Koko was shown a horse with a bit she sighed "Horse sad." When asked why she replied "teeth." When asked to take a bath, something she didn’t like to do, she fussed "Me cry there." She often called her trainer Dr. Francine Patterson a "nut" or a "bird" in a teasing manner. Once she broke a sink and blamed it on Patterson's assistant Kate. "Kate there bad" Koko said pointing to the sink. [Source: Francine Patterson, National Geographic, October 1978]
On a Stanford-Binet IQ test Koko scored between 85 and 95, and that included answers marked wrong that should have been marked right. One of the questions, for example, was "where would you go if it were raining: a house or a tree." Koko answered a tree. During the first year and a half of her training she learned at rate of about a sign a month. After 36 months she she was using 184 signs on a regular basis and after 4½ years she had learned 222 signs. Koko also learned to use a computer, with a banana given as a reward for each correct answer.
Culture, Medicine and Facial Expressions Among Chimpanzees
Kanzi with communication keyboard
Chimpanzees are extremely good at reading each other's facial expressions. So are monkeys. Melissa Hogenboom wrote for the BBC: De Waal “noted that tickling a young chimpanzee elicits the same smiling response as children. A study published in May 2015 has since shown that the same muscles are involved when chimps and humans smile. Our incredible range of facial expressions may be unique, but look at the face of a chimpanzee for long enough and you will begin to see a similar complex repertoire of smiling and laughter.[Source: Melissa Hogenboom, BBC, July 3, 2015 |::|]
“Chimpanzees even have culture. They aren't composing symphonies but culture can be defined as passing on knowledge, habits and transmission from one generation to the next. De Waal argues that chimps completely depend on cultural and social learning. There is now abundant evidence for this. Wild chimp societies have developed different tool use, courtship and grooming behaviours, which they pass onto their offspring. In the lab, chimps will conform, using tools in the same way that others do. This conformity is "a hallmark of human culture", according to the researchers. The chimps conformed to their group's social norms, even though another technique could have been just as useful. |::|
“Most recently, it has emerged that chimpanzees can learn to cook food, although they do need to be prompted. They would probably quite like a drink to go with it: a 17-year-long study found that they were partial to alcohol from fermented palm sap, and drank enough to show signs of inebriation. Suddenly that gourmet meal idea doesn't look so far off.” |::|
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Nature, Scientific American. Live Science, Discover magazine, Discovery News, Ancient Foods ancientfoods.wordpress.com ; Times of London, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, BBC, The Guardian, Reuters, AP, AFP and various books and other publications.
Last updated April 2024