| RageBot Israel. August 22 2012 03:06. Posts 1459 | Profile # |
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22197-bonobo-genius-makes-stone-tools-like-early-humans-did.html
Kanzi the bonobo continues to impress. Not content with learning sign language or making up "words" for things like banana or juice, he now seems capable of making stone tools on a par with the efforts of early humans.
Eviatar Nevo of the University of Haifa in Israel and his colleagues sealed food inside a log to mimic marrow locked inside long bones, and watched Kanzi, a 30-year-old male bonobo chimp, try to extract it. While a companion bonobo attempted the problem a handful of times, and succeeded only by smashing the log on the ground, Kanzi took a longer and arguably more sophisticated approach.
Both had been taught to knap flint flakes in the 1990s, holding a stone core in one hand and using another as a hammer. Kanzi used the tools he created to come at the log in a variety of ways: inserting sticks into seams in the log, throwing projectiles at it, and employing stone flints as choppers, drills, and scrapers. In the end, he got food out of 24 logs, while his companion managed just two.
Perhaps most remarkable about the tools Kanzi created is their resemblance to early hominid tools. Both bonobos made and used tools to obtain food – either by extracting it from logs or by digging it out of the ground. But only Kanzi's met the criteria for both tool groups made by early Homo: wedges and choppers, and scrapers and drills.
Do Kanzi's skills translate to all bonobos? It's hard to say. The abilities of animals like Alex the parrot, who could purportedly count to six, and Betty the crow, who crafted a hook out of wire, sometimes prompt claims about the intelligence of an entire species. But since these animals are raised in unusual environments where they frequently interact with humans, their cases may be too singular to extrapolate their talents to their brethren.
The findings will fuel the ongoing debate over whether stone tools mark the beginning of modern human culture, or predate our Homo genus. They appear to suggest the latter – though critics will point out that Kanzi and his companion were taught how to make the tools. Whether the behaviour could arise in nature is unclear.
Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1212855109
I think this is really impressive, I wonder if that can mean the start of a new "Bonobo civilization", and if Bonobos can learn from each other like human beings can. |
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| acker United States. August 22 2012 03:13. Posts 2209 | Profile # |
It would be amazing if they put this Bonobo in the wild to show his compatriots how to make stone tools.
Right up until the inevitable Ape Uprising. |
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| Flamingo777 United States. August 22 2012 03:23. Posts 1140 | Profile # |
| I'm wondering how much the companion's success on 2 logs has to do with being with Kanzi.. or if they are even allowed to interact. |
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| Amridell August 22 2012 04:40. Posts 159 | Profile # |
On August 22 2012 03:13 acker wrote:
It would be amazing if they put this Bonobo in the wild to show his compatriots how to make stone tools.
Right up until the inevitable Ape Uprising.
Planet of the apes all over again!
But seriously, this is amazing. It proves that they can think of applications for the tools. Now we should put him in the wild. |
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| ddrddrddrddr August 22 2012 04:48. Posts 1268 | Profile # |
On August 22 2012 04:40 Amridell wrote:
Show nested quote +On August 22 2012 03:13 acker wrote:
It would be amazing if they put this Bonobo in the wild to show his compatriots how to make stone tools.
Right up until the inevitable Ape Uprising.
Planet of the apes all over again! But seriously, this is amazing. It proves that they can think of applications for the tools. Now we should put him in the wild.
wtf... you just named planet of the apes, then you suggest we let these educated primates go home. Might as well release Einstein back into his natural habitat too huh? |
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| Brutaxilos United States. August 22 2012 04:49. Posts 887 | Profile Blog # |
| We should pull a Xel Naga and forge a new race of bonobos to live along side them. I would really love to live some day in a world where humans are not the only intelligent species, and since discovering aliens now is still completely based on chance, this is a nice start. :D |
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| Boblhead United States. August 22 2012 05:00. Posts 2561 | Profile # |
| A couple of years ago i saw a documentary were chimpanzee used rocks to open nuts, and to get other food sources. It was pretty cool |
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| [Aot]_Aether United States. August 22 2012 05:02. Posts 89 | Profile # |
| That is insanely badass and cool. It makes me wonder why we haven't been teaching other primates this sort of thing. If you showed Gorillas how to do this, they'd probably understand. If they can understand sign language, they can certainly understand how to make a tool. |
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| solidbebe Netherlands. August 22 2012 05:03. Posts 3278 | Profile # |
On August 22 2012 04:49 Brutaxilos wrote:
We should pull a Xel Naga and forge a new race of bonobos to live along side them. I would really love to live some day in a world where humans are not the only intelligent species, and since discovering aliens now is still completely based on chance, this is a nice start. :D
Well assuming monkeys develop the same way we humans did, youre gonna need to wait another 20000 years. |
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| [Aot]_Aether United States. August 22 2012 05:17. Posts 89 | Profile # |
On August 22 2012 05:03 solidbebe wrote:
Show nested quote +On August 22 2012 04:49 Brutaxilos wrote:
We should pull a Xel Naga and forge a new race of bonobos to live along side them. I would really love to live some day in a world where humans are not the only intelligent species, and since discovering aliens now is still completely based on chance, this is a nice start. :D
Well assuming monkeys develop the same way we humans did, youre gonna need to wait another 20000 years.
Aha, but here's the thing; we have tools to mold the bonobos. We have eugenics. We have DNA splicing and selective genetics. We can basically build super primates. Breed the smartest together. Teach them our ways. |
| | Tell me builds to help me win, please. :) |
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| Zahir United States. August 22 2012 07:32. Posts 920 | Profile # |
Those bonobos are some weird little guys man. I'm not hating or whatever, they can live how they want, but damn. Look up bonobo sexual practices and imagine projecting that on to a human society.
Im kind of against tampering with their DNA or whatever to make them smarter. We'd just be making them more like what we think they ought to be. Too artificial and shallow an evolution for my tastes. Besides, we'd then be responsible for them forever. Let nature take its course, by the time another civilized species emerges maybe we'll be capable of coexisting with them.Last edit: 2012-08-22 07:35:41 |
| | What is best? To crush the Zerg, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of the Protoss. |
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| Kluey Canada. August 22 2012 07:36. Posts 1170 | Profile # |
| Misleading title. The scientists and people there SHOWED the animal how to do it. Humans learned themselves and are still learning themselves. |
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| Crushinator Netherlands. August 22 2012 07:43. Posts 1254 | Profile # |
On August 22 2012 07:36 Kluey wrote:
Misleading title. The scientists and people there SHOWED the animal how to do it. Humans learned themselves and are still learning themselves.
I don't think the title is misleading. They showed the ape how to work flint. But he chose in what ways the stones were shaped. He must have had some understanding of the purpose of the process. He chose certain forms over others, and managed to devise a whole range of tools to solve a problem. I think this is very interesting indeed.
I wonder if bonobos would be able to teach this to eachother. I geuss this is part of the reason for having a companion. |
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| AngryMag Germany. August 22 2012 08:17. Posts 642 | Profile # |
| Kanzi probably philosophies about his bonobo comrades and the sense of being all day. He just makes tools to get rid of the idiot scientists who repeatedly hinder his thought process |
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| Xpace United States. August 22 2012 08:25. Posts 2086 | Profile # |
On August 22 2012 07:43 Crushinator wrote:
Show nested quote +On August 22 2012 07:36 Kluey wrote:
Misleading title. The scientists and people there SHOWED the animal how to do it. Humans learned themselves and are still learning themselves.
I don't think the title is misleading. They showed the ape how to work flint. But he chose in what ways the stones were shaped. He must have had some understanding of the purpose of the process. He chose certain forms over others, and managed to devise a whole range of tools to solve a problem. I think this is very interesting indeed. I wonder if bonobos would be able to teach this to eachother. I geuss this is part of the reason for having a companion.
Humans learned themselves, yes, but the human who discovered how to light a fire also SHOWED others how to do it. This isn't a representation of species - we all didn't just get up and walk on two feet at one point in time. Evolution as a concept is not hard to understand, but evolution as a practice is much harder to fathom. How long did it take for our species to get where we are now? |
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| SonKiE United States. August 22 2012 08:29. Posts 156 | Profile # |
| Pretty cool stuff. Pretty soon he will have an i-Phone. Last edit: 2012-08-22 08:31:17 |
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| Eti307 Canada. August 22 2012 08:29. Posts 3335 | Profile Blog # |
| I thought you were talking about the musician lol |
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| dafunk France. August 22 2012 08:31. Posts 467 | Profile # |
On August 22 2012 08:29 Eti307 wrote:
I thought you were talking about the musician lol
ahah same here |
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| kefkalives Australia. August 22 2012 08:41. Posts 1246 | Profile Blog # |
I'll handle this...
The only danger in space is if we land on the terrible Planet of the Apes... Wait a minute. Statue of Liberty... THAT WAS OUR PLANET! YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!
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Kanzi will lead the guerrilla ape war T_T
Last edit: 2012-08-22 08:42:26 |
| | prOxi.bOn ; \\ What makes most people feel happy/Leads us headlong into harm. |
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| Uvantak Uruguay. August 22 2012 09:03. Posts 310 | Profile # |
| Haha this is pretty awesome, and this made me remember a group of chimpanzees in senegal that made spears, well tipped sticks and they used to hunt small monkeys with them. I guess there must be something about that in wikipedia for those that may want to know more |
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