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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsApe cooks with fire
By DAVID DERBYSHIRE
Last updated at 10:44 AM on 30th December 2011
Eagerly he collects wood from the ground, snaps the branches into small pieces and carefully balances them in a pile. Then, taking care not to burn himself, he gently strikes a match and gets ready for a fry-up.
Like all red-blooded males, Kanzi loves messing around with a barbecue. But then, as these extraordinary pictures show, Kanzi is no man. He is a bonobo - pygmy chimpanzee - and his love of fire is challenging the way that we think about our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.
For although bonobo apes and larger chimpanzees use twigs and leaves as tools, none has ever shown such skill for cooking food.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080050/Now-thats-chim-PAN-zee-Meet-monkey-fry-burgers.html
hlthe2b
(101,730 posts)So much intelligence we fail to recognize. Enjoy your meal, Kanzi!
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Response to n2doc (Original post)
HereSince1628 This message was self-deleted by its author.
TheManInTheMac
(985 posts)If he's got a dishwasher somewhere off camera I'll be REALLY impressed.
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)Fire... GOOD
WingDinger
(3,690 posts)a rock and roll manager. She smoked stogies and threw back shots of whisky. I can only imagine she sits there wishing for a drink and a smoke.
WingDinger
(3,690 posts)WingDinger
(3,690 posts)I would point my laser at the young ones hand. She would lick her hand. Eventually, they knew the dot was made by the thing I was holding. Abstract.
Had we studied Bonobos as early as we studied Chimps, assumptions about mans violent tendencies, and male dominance, would be far different, as would we be. Boys will be boys, creates nasty boys.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)WingDinger
(3,690 posts)I look at DEMS, and Rethugs, as Bonobo, and Chimp. We seem to operate from one of the two streams.
The most important lesson I learned from De Waal, in Chimp politics, is that at some threshold, the moms and children banded together, and ousted the strongman, and his henchmen. Bloodlessly.
There is a gentle counterbalance to survival of the fittest{most violent dispositions}.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)Recently I saw where there is a different one they are considering being a part of human make up. The more they find added into the mix changes and shifts the conclusions already drawn, from guesses and presented as facts.
But I do find it interesting
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)Bonobos live in denser forest and have easier acess to higher quality food.
WingDinger
(3,690 posts)Ample food, and safety, makes Bonobo's NICER. Just as better food and shelter security, will make humans NICER. Same with female dominance. As we depend more on external protections, instead of brute strength, we will become a more passive species.
All of these things, are fought by Rethugs. Why? They want a world that rewards aggression, as they have that in abundance. Just as those agressives try to make the playground hostile too. Since the dawn of man, stealing resources, under the guise of more high minded motivations{religion}. is rampant.
tabatha
(18,795 posts)Kanzi would be better to stick to his normal food.
WingDinger
(3,690 posts)lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)Whats for dinner?
MNBrewer
(8,462 posts)PotatoChip
(3,186 posts)Just scroll all the way down.
Really cool! Thanks n2doc!
Warpy
(110,913 posts)I'm really glad we're discovering the potential in our closest relatives. The different placement of the hyoid bone means we won't be able to teach them our language but someday we might start to learn theirs.
Only when we can communicate with other sentient species with whom we share a planetary point of reference can we even start to think about communicating with species that don't.
(Yeah, I'm a nerd)
n2doc
(47,953 posts)I believe people have had some success in teaching sign language and other pictorial languages to chimps. It may be, however, that Chimps think differently enough that languages created by Humans don't work well with them.
1monster
(11,012 posts)grieved, using sign language to express her grief. When given another kitten, she named it Ball II (using sign language).
For the basics, sign language worked well enough. But given the complexities of human life vs the simplicity of ape life, human language would not work beyond the basics. But, I'd bet, if people keep teaching apes the ins and outs of human life, the apes will become more complicated and the language problems will work out.
I'm not sure how I feel about this though. Does Star Treks's Prime Directive have any meaning here?
csziggy
(34,120 posts)For the article at the OP link:
"Kanzi, who weighs 12st, is the brightest of the apes at the Great Ape Trust. With two other apes at the centre, he uses paper keyboards to communicate with Dr Savage-Rumbaugh and fellow primatologist Liz Pugh.
"In conversation with the researchers he points to symbols, known as lexigrams, on the keyboards representing different words.
"He has learnt to say around 500 words through the keyboard, and understands 3,000 spoken words."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080050/Now-thats-chim-PAN-zee-Meet-monkey-fry-burgers.html#ixzz1iKyGA1Ej
hunter
(38,264 posts)[font size="+5"]D'oh![/font]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D'oh!
The Straight Story
(48,121 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)The Straight Story
(48,121 posts)surrealAmerican
(11,340 posts)... get his own show on The Food Network. I can picture it now: "Cooking for Bonobos"
Enrique
(27,461 posts)it couldn't hurt.
deacon
(5,967 posts)1monster
(11,012 posts)He gets all the fun parts, like lighting the fire, toasting the marshmallow, and puttingout the fire, while the nearby woman does all the work, stirring, turning the food, determinining when it is done, and dishing up...
Bonabos are more like humans than this article reveals.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)Is the connection to learning cooked food tastes better than cold food?
Blue Owl
(49,934 posts)n/t
Schema Thing
(10,283 posts)MilesColtrane
(18,678 posts)deacon
(5,967 posts)Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)mike_c
(36,214 posts)...something I've never done before, using skills I've not acquired before. My behavior is essentially imitative, doing what I have seen others do. The sources of my information are a bit different, online materials, books, etc, but otherwise it's hard to see how my actions differ from those of this chimp. Now if he teaches other chimps how to make fire and cook food, that would REALLY be cool!
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)DevonRex
(22,541 posts)rusty fender
(3,428 posts)WingDinger
(3,690 posts)I was one of the troop, when I lived in San Diego. I would often have the whole troop around me, for hours.
Lana presented her baby girl to me, three days after her birth. She held her aloft at the window, by her stretched wrists.