Chimp Shows Planning Abilities

STORY:

Santino has lived at a Swedish animal park for 25 years.

But the 30-year-old chimpanzee isn't always a model resident.

He's recently been bombarding visitors with stones and other missiles — and preparing his attacks in advance.

It's apparently evidence of intelligence never seen before in an animal.

"The staff started to see small stone piles on the ape island — he had built small piles here and there.  That's how we discovered it. And he had been throwing stones on some occasions. He doesn't do it every day only when he's in a particular mood, when he wants to flex his muscles in front of the audience."

The head of the animal department at Furuvik Park contacted a local university.

Cognitive scientist, Mathias Osvath has just published his subsequent study.

"The behavior shows that an animal, in this case a chimpanzee, can plan for a future psychological condition, a condition that doesn't exist at that moment. The ape doesn't have the feeling when he collects the items and there are no visitors but he assumes that he will feel indignant and want to do it. So he can plan for a future psychological condition, which has been seen as a uniquely human trait."

Santino collected his ammunition from the moat around his enclosure.

He also knocked chunks off the concrete floor - storing them in piles ready for when the park opened.

"It implies a special awareness that had been seen as human. It was Aristotle who came up with the idea that closing our eyes and still seeing a world around us is a typical human trait. This challenges the idea that the human beings are the only creatures that have this kind of disengaged consciousness."

Santino has now been dubbed 'The Thinker' by his keepers.

But while his behavior shows intelligence it's not condoned.

If he continues his anti-social ways he'll have to stay indoors even when it's no longer snowing.

Category:

Science & Technology

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[SOLISDEUS]

It strikes me as ironic that there are primates using this youtube posting to argue their not primates but something else created by god. Case of self hate maybe. My suggestion: have a banana and some herbal tea...and if the mood strikes...hang from a tree.

[Rosalita57]

FACT: A statement does not become a FACT simply because it is labeled as such.

[PRHILL9696]

Chimps are smarter than the human animal, I am not surprised

[aboody006]

they should call him ceaser then he's gonna invade earth with his monkey friends :P

[aaoppe]

@pmarie2003 I think the point is that the chimp makes plans for a future mental state. He remembers being agitated at the visitors when they snap pictures of him, so he calmly fashions little "stone missilies" after closing time and stores them in a special area. Come the next day, he recovers them and initiates the attack.

That's clearly more complex than a horse calling upon seeing your outing-equipment. This chimp's planning doesn't reflect an immediate need, and that marks the difference.

[adi87tya]

Sadly, by confining this chimpanzee, we're interrupting evolution. This chimpanzee is a genetic variation that in its natural habitat would successfully breed and propagate its genes.

[Spyflugan91]

@kroikye with snow and guys named Mathias Osvat?

[bill23138]

@SOLISDEUS your an idiot dude

[Aggron300]

SWEDEN ROCKS!

[pmarie2003]

0:55 If my horse will neigh to call me out of the house when it is around the time he usually eats. I don't always go out immediately, so he isn't always rewarded. If he sees me gathering equipment for an outing, he will get in the horse trailer and "call me" because he likes going to the park. Is he not planning for a future event?

1:28 If non-humans weren't capable of closing their eyes and seeing a world around them, dogs wouldn't be able to have dreams where they are showing emotion.

[Astonish666]

I would be pissed too if you stupid fucks locked me up!!! I would be throwing more than rocks at yer bitch asses!