Bravo, Chimps!
First, an update on last night’s poetry reading: about as I predicted – polite applause, a few “that was interesting” comments and, for the most part, blank looks and nodding heads (nodding as in sleepy, not as in assent). Nice location, though, kind of classy but the prices are no worse than the Globe.
Anyway, today’s blog topic is chimpanzees. I saw this article on the Huffington Post and decided to copy it for the next issue of Watson’s World News. It’s an animal story, and everybody likes animal stories, but it’s also a science story and I like that.
Apparently, in one specific region of western Africa, chimpanzees have learned how to disable traps. It’s not just like they’ve figured out how to get out of them, which would be nice but not startling. Survival can be a powerful motivator, as can pain. I remember Bill Byde, a graying old hippie who I lived with in Wales, explaining something to me about animal intelligence. “Goats may not be very smart,” he said, “but they’ve got all day to figure out how to get that gate open and that’s the only thing they’re thinking about.”
No, these chimps go through the jungle, scout out the traps and break them, while keeping their hands and feet well clear of the trapping part. They are not only making sure they don’t get trapped, they’re making sure that none of their friends or family or any other jungle animals do, either. The chimps are fighting back. They are sticking it to the humans.
And, they are teaching other chimps how to do it. Adults are passing the knowledge to their young.
This is way cool, and it is a science story because of what it teaches us about chimpanzee intelligence. More and more, it seems to be very similar to our own.
My question is: were chimps always this smart and we just never realized it before or are we actually seeing them evolve, right before our eyes. If that were to prove to be the case, it would be absolutely amazing.
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