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| Demonstrating his receptive competence for English language, the bonobo Nyota points to symbols on the lexigram board to communicate with humans. Great Ape Trust of Iowa photo. |
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Bonobos’ ability to recognize pictorial representations provides scientific evidence that apes have imagination
Des Moines, Iowa – March 27, 2008 – The competence bonobos at Great Ape Trust of Iowa have demonstrated in identifying non-realistic pictorial images they have never before seen is changing how scientists think about apes’ imaginations.
Cognitive scientist Tomas Persson, a doctoral candidate from Sweden’s Lund University who recently publicly defended his dissertation, "Pictorial Primates – A Search for Iconic Abilities in Great Apes," found during his many years of studying gorillas at Denmark’s Givskud Zoo that it is not easy to teach an ape to relate a picture to reality. However, the bonobos at Great Ape Trust, a world-class scientific research center in Des Moines studying ape intelligence and behavior, readily grasped the meaning of abstract symbols, such as those on the lexigram boards they use to communicate.
Persson’s conclusion: Like humans, bonobos interpret.
"This is the most promising evidence yet that you don’t have to have a human brain to understand pictures as representations," Persson recently told ScienceDaily. "But many studies remain to be done before we will know the extent of this ability in apes. A further question for the future is whether the language training the bonobos have had is the direct reason behind their ability to understand images."
Persson tested Kanzi and Panbanisha, the two most well-known language-competent bonobos in the world, at Great Ape Trust in 2006, and each displayed "very good recognition of novel line-drawings," he wrote in his dissertation, arguing that the study of apes’ cognitive potential is a worthwhile endeavor.
"We now know that a specifically human brain is not necessary to recognize drawing stimuli," he wrote. "Our real task is to understand the processes that made these specific apes into the picture viewers that they are. What sustains this aspect in them?"
William M. Fields, director of bonobo research at Great Ape Trust, said Persson’s work represents the first Ph.D. dissertation published from data collected at Great Ape Trust. "We are extremely proud of his research because it is creative, insightful, and brilliant," Fields said. "Most important, Pictorial Primates is a significant scientific contribution to ape language research following in the grand tradition of Rumbaugh and Savage-Rumbaugh."
Dr. Duane Rumbaugh, a scientist emeritus at Great Ape Trust, and Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, who recently retired from The Trust’s bonobo research program and is now a scientist with special standing, are pioneers in the field of ape language research.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Great Ape Trust of Iowais a scientific research facility in southeast Des Moines dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence. When completed, Great Ape Trust will be the largest great ape facility in North America and one of the first worldwide to include all four types of great ape – bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans – for noninvasive interdisciplinary studies of their cognitive and communicative capabilities.
Great Ape Trust is dedicated to providing sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, studying the intelligence of great apes, advancing conservation of great apes and providing unique educational experiences about great apes. Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization and is certified by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). |
Great Ape Trust is certified by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums
