http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-05-10-bonobo-studies_N.htm?csp=15

http://www.care2.com/news/member/845082801/371656

Those of you who are members of Care2, why don’t you note my news story? Just a little suggestion.:)

I found this article yesterday, and I thought it was incredibly interesting. How wonderful that you can now comunicate with our closest relatives. In fact, I’ve been communicating with our non-human family members for years, but the primates can actually reply to you in a way that you can understand. Of course, so do many of my animal babies too.

In any case, this article is about how these apes get to learn symbols. In the past, apparently, the scientists had made a mistake, and tried to teach the apes our language, rather like we learn a second language – like French or Spanish. The scientists discovered this when a bonobo baby suddenly turned out to know what the mother had learned, without anyone working especially to teach him. Good boy!

There were a couple of other things I paid special attention to. For instance, what the bonobos enjoy the most, (other than their special interest – see earlier post) are movies about themselves, other primates and humans.

The smart little kid who learned his mother’s lessons, has a favorite book, about a gorilla. How cute.

Of course it isn’t just cute. It also shows clearly that at least primates (in my opinion all ‘more advanced’ animals) should be allowed basic human rights. There’s even an ongoing court case going on in Austria (I think). People are trying to secure basic rights to a chimipanzee, as a ‘person’.

If you can read books and watch movies and understand what you’re seeing and hearing, that has to mean you’re a person, right?

One of our dogs, a golden retriever, loved horses. Little horses inside the tv. Maybe it was the sound of their hoofs. One day she got to see some real horses grazing. You could almost see how her mind was working overtime. Oh. They’re that big? Not quite as much fun.

One of these bonobos appeared concerned about an orangutan, who needed to be fed. She told one of the humans so that the orangutan would get help. Empathy too. Even more likely that we’re very closely related (at least the ones of us who are empathic).

There’s a lot more to read in that article, so take a look.

I just wish that someone would do some work with my special favorites, the gorillas. Kanzi (the bonobo baby above) will probably agree.