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Ape Genius reveals depth of animal intelligence

 
 
Reply Wed 7 May, 2008 06:14 am
Ape Genius reveals depth of animal intelligence
By Paul Eccleston
Last Updated: 5:01pm BST 02/05/2008

Chimpanzees in Senegal make and sharpen spears with their teeth to go hunting. Like our own ancestors they have learned to use tools to kill their quarry more effectively.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/graphics/2008/05/02/eachimp102a.jpg
Ape genius: A chimp turns a handle on an experiment device (left) and a chimp examining red cups

They use their colossal strength to thrust their spears into holes in trees where they suspect nocturnal bushbabies are sleeping.

Anthropologist Jill Pruetz believes she has made a landmark discovery - a species other than humans learning - and passing on - the skills to make a lethal weapon.

The generation of ideas and sharing a skill is a scientific definition of culture.

In another part of Africa a young chimp lowers himself gingerly into a cooling pool and squealing with excitement - in exactly the same way as a human child would. Apes are supposed to be afraid of water but this one is actively using the water as a tool to enjoy a dip.

In controlled laboratory experiments another chimpanzee called Judy quickly learns how to use a complex series of manoeuvres, turning wheels and pulling handles in order, to obtain a piece of fruit from a specially constructed wooden slot machine. But even more remarkably other chimps watch her success and then learn the skill themselves.

Learning by imitation is regarded as an essential skill for culture.
Apes display rudimentary traditions which could be interpreted as culture but are they really bright enough to develop a proper culture?

The apes are all stars of a new film - Ape Genius - which gives a fascinating insight into the depth of intelligence of animals who share 99 per cent of human genes.
In it they reveal the skills, reasoning powers and emotions that were once thought to be uniquely human.

The stars include Koko a gorilla who understands sign language, Azy an orangutan maths champion, and Kanzi a bonobo who understands more than 3,000 words of English.

The film demonstrates that apes are more like us than we ever imagined and only the lack of a few mental skills has prevented them making the giant evolutionary development steps taken by their human cousins.

What's the little difference that makes the big difference and how big is the gap between Them and Us?, the film asks.

In west Africa Japanese researchers watch a mother care for sick two-years-old infant. She puts her paw on his forehead in exactly the way as a parent would check for a temperature in a child. As the baby chimp's life ebbs away she cares for him devotedly and when he dies she carries him around on her back for weeks almost refusing to accept that he is gone.

It is impossible to know what she is thinking but not difficult to recognise that she is stricken with grief.

"When I see the scene of the mother looking at the baby, I really recognise the emotional life of chimpanzees are so similar to us," says one of the researchers.

But if apes have the power to reason, learn skills, feel emotion and co-operate in a frenzied tree-top hunt for Colobus monkeys as chimpanzees do, why don't we have a planet of the apes?

The film reveals that although apes will co-operate to obtain food they don't have a shared commitment, they don't have the passion to urge or cheer on a tribe member and they do not have control of their emotions. They are also violent, impulsive and display deadly rivalry.

Although they can be taught to recognise symbols and words they don't have the mental capacity to contribute to a 'conversation' - and they don't make small talk. And most important of all although they can imitate, they can't teach or build on the achievements others have made - unlike more successful humans.

Their mental rocket is on the launch pad but it hasn't taken off, the film concludes.

Ape Genius will be shown on the National Geographic Wild Channel on Thursday May 8 at 9.00pm

Original article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/05/02/eachimp102.xml
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Gala
 
  1  
Reply Wed 7 May, 2008 06:25 am
Thanks for posting this, it's really good.
0 Replies
 
Pamela Rosa
 
  1  
Reply Thu 8 May, 2008 04:23 am
My pleasure, Gala.

Quote:

April 28, 2008
Swimming orang-utans' spearfishing exploits amaze the wildlife experts
Lewis Smith

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00324/Orangutan_324035a.jpg

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3828123.ece
0 Replies
 
farmerman
 
  1  
Reply Thu 8 May, 2008 04:38 am
yeh, but do they have any good recipes to cook their fish?
0 Replies
 
solipsister
 
  1  
Reply Thu 8 May, 2008 04:39 am
bouillabaisse tonight honey bunch
0 Replies
 
solipsister
 
  1  
Reply Thu 8 May, 2008 04:42 am
yes, i spruiced myself up, ok
0 Replies
 
lezzles
 
  1  
Reply Thu 8 May, 2008 07:16 pm
Save the Bonobos!
0 Replies
 
Pamela Rosa
 
  1  
Reply Sat 10 May, 2008 05:36 am
Re: Ape Genius reveals depth of animal intelligence
Pamela Rosa wrote:


The generation of ideas and sharing a skill is a scientific definition of culture.


That' it?

No wonder when I hear the word 'kulcha' or 'multikulcha', I reach for my pistol.
0 Replies
 
helmi15
 
  1  
Reply Mon 12 May, 2008 06:23 am
I don't know wheter this is true or not, but I guess, I read an article about the apes evolution in scientific magazine. It said that there is a possibility that chimps could become human-like in the future. Does someone here have further information on this? Would be interesting.... Rolling Eyes
0 Replies
 
Pamela Rosa
 
  1  
Reply Fri 16 May, 2008 03:26 am
helmi15 wrote:
I don't know wheter this is true or not, but I guess, I read an article about the apes evolution in scientific magazine. It said that there is a possibility that chimps could become human-like in the future. Does someone here have further information on this? Would be interesting.... Rolling Eyes


I don't think an evolution is needed for chimps to become human kind.
The Church, the UN Human Rights Commission, and costant propaganda of jewish mass media can elevated any savage animal to the position of the human being.
0 Replies
 
 

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