A study conducted at a Swedish zoo suggests that some apes can plan ahead like humans through observing the actions of an alpha male chimpanzee at the Furuvik Zoo located 93 miles from Stockholm, Sweden. A report was written by Lund University Ph.D. student Mathias Osvath.
According to the report in the journal of Current Biology, the 31 male chimpanzee, Santino, started collecting rocks and disks from concrete boulders found inside his enclosure. Yet, Santino waited until the middle of the day to bombard visitors with his collection.
Santino was observed tapping on a concrete boulder to find the weak spots so he could knock out a piece of the boulder. If he had a concrete piece that was too big for throwing, he would break it in to smaller pieces before adding it to his ammunition collection. He also collected rocks from the moat in is island enclosure.
Since Santino stayed calm while collecting his arsenal yet was agitated when hurling them suggests that the behavior was not emotionally driven. Osvath states, "It implies that they have a highly developed consciousness, including lifelike mental simulations of potential events." He also acknowledges that there a differences within big chimpanzees and that his observations do not mean that all chimpanzees are capable of advanced planning.
According to the report in the journal of Current Biology, the 31 male chimpanzee, Santino, started collecting rocks and disks from concrete boulders found inside his enclosure. Yet, Santino waited until the middle of the day to bombard visitors with his collection.
Santino was observed tapping on a concrete boulder to find the weak spots so he could knock out a piece of the boulder. If he had a concrete piece that was too big for throwing, he would break it in to smaller pieces before adding it to his ammunition collection. He also collected rocks from the moat in is island enclosure.
Since Santino stayed calm while collecting his arsenal yet was agitated when hurling them suggests that the behavior was not emotionally driven. Osvath states, "It implies that they have a highly developed consciousness, including lifelike mental simulations of potential events." He also acknowledges that there a differences within big chimpanzees and that his observations do not mean that all chimpanzees are capable of advanced planning.
No one was seriously injured as Santino has poor aim and they're probably thankful that he did not include feces amongst his weapons.
Click here to read more on the ScienceDaily web site.
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