#primate cognition

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Kanzi the bonobo is now a gamer!

YouTuber ChrisDaCow reached out to the Des Moines’ Ape Cognition and Conservation Initiative where Kanzi and his bonobo family live. For decades Kanzi has demonstrated proficency in learning tasks and understanding human language, and his introduction to Minecraft adds to human study as well as Kanzi's enrichment.

Kanzi started by familiarizing himself with the game, using arrows to point to loot on the ground. Over time, Kanzi learned to tap the center of a touchscreen to move forward and touch the sides to turn and look around.

Kanzi gets rewarded for his achievements with his favorite snacks, such as peanuts, grapes, and apples. Kanzi not only enjoys playing Minecraft but also when people play with him.

Watch the video here! A fundraiser is included to build new outdoor play areas for the bonobos. They have already raised 10 thousand dollars and are planning another video about Kanzi's Minecraft world.

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Hey, check this out! Chimpanzees show each other things just to share the experience.

While it is a common human experience to show a friend or family member something you enjoy, this behavior is not ours alone. In a video filmed recently, an adult wild chimpanzee is enjoying a leaf by picking at it with her fingers and mouth and pauses to hold it out in front of her mothers face. She moves to ensure her mother has seen it, and then continues.

From the article describing the research findings:

“She’s not offering it for food. She doesn’t want her mum to do anything. She just wants them to look at it together, and be like ‘Oh, cool, nice!’,” said Prof Katie Slocombe of the University of York, a co-author of the study. Slocombe and colleagues noted that even close relatives of humans, such as great apes, were [previously] thought only to gesture to objects for particular purposes.

“It is not the first time that we have seen a suggestion that chimpanzees voluntarily point out information to others – I myself have described such incidents – or that they may teach others new information, but this is now the best documented case,” he said. "It signifies that chimpanzees, and perhaps also other apes, grasp that other individuals gather information the way they do themselves, and are willing to share information with others without any prompting or rewards or self-serving purposes.”

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Kanzi the bonobo playing Minecraft

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What do monkeys think of us and/or other monkey species? Do they recognize us as a different species, or do they consider those close to them (reserve caretaker and similar) to be part of their community? I heard cats see us as fellow adult cats so now I'm wondering about other animals.

While we can't definitely tell what other primates are thinking, it appears that many of them recognize us as being like them. They appear to recognize that humans are not the same species as them, but depending on their relationships with others of their species and humans may consider themselves to have more or less in common with us. For example, chimpanzees raised as pets essentially grow up believing that they are related to humans. The chimp may recognize that they do not have everything in common with the humans around them, but if they are raised only having relationships with humans they will consider their community to be made up of people. Similarly, wild and acclimated primates would not consider humans to be as close to them.

This is largely speculative, but the differences between species are largely socially perceived when it comes to inter-animal relations and that's about as much as I can say without overreaching too broadly.

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Captive Gorillas And Orangutans Are Pretty Rational When It Comes To Making Decisions

When it comes to risky probability based decisions such as gambling, random chance and critical thinking come together to shape choices. You can keep track of aspects like counting cards to increase your chances, but it can be difficult to keep track and randomized variables often keep participants acting on hunches to try to win. Human decision-making is often irrational and can lead to economically poor choices. But how about apes? From the article:

"The team carried out two experiments on orangutans and gorillas at Basel Zoo in Switzerland. In the first experiment, the animal was presented with two cups. One cup contained a safe option that was known to the animal, or they could choose a second cup as a risky option which might contain a higher reward than the safe option, or no reward at all. 

This first experiment succeeded the training period, where the animals had to learn from each experiment that the safe reward was always presented in the safe cup, whereas the risky reward could be presented in the risky cup. The animals had to learn, through feedback, the probability and the possible gain from the greater reward under the risky cup.

In a second experiment, the safe reward was presented under a safe cup – however, the risky reward was always presented under one of several risky cups. This was designed to see if the animals could understand the relationship between the number of risky cups, and the chance of getting a reward if the risky cup was chosen. 

After analysis, the team found that the orangutans and gorillas acted rationally, making decisions based on what they could gain and how likely they were to have a high reward. The animals also were more likely to choose the risky option as the potential reward increased. 

The team found that the orangutans were more likely than the gorillas to choose the risky cup in the first experiment. The researchers conclude that both the gorillas and the orangutans are more risk-prone in the second experiment, while they were risk-neutral in the first. They suggest that future work be carried on to explain the cognitive biases for this change between experimental designs."

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An interesting feature of bonobo social groups and insight into emotion and cognition! Bonobos make "baby like" noises to garner comfort from peers.

Both baby and adult bonobos have been observed using this technique where, when upset or in conflict with another bonobo, they will make noises and expressions to garner comfort. This technique is pictured above where the bonobo on the left is 'pouting' and being held by a companion. From the article:

"Psychologists from Durham University, UK have found in their study that bonobos produce a variety of signals including "baby-like" signals to strategically display distress when they are attacked by other bonobos.

The researchers carried out this study on two bonobo groups comprising over 40 bonobos at the Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), the world's only bonobo sanctuary.

The researchers examined how bonobo victims communicate about their distress after a fight, and whether these signals affect the responses of bonobo bystanders. They found that when the bonobos produce certain types of signals of their emotional distress, they have higher chances of being comforted by other bonobos watching. These signals resemble those typically used by baby bonobos such as pouting, whimpering and showing tantrums.

The adult bonobos usually stop signaling their distress when they get supported by others, while immature bonobos still continue afterwards.

The study reveals that adult bonobos are also less likely to be re-attacked by their former opponent when they display these "baby-like" signals following a conflict.

The researchers further discovered that bonobos are sensitive to their audience as such they produce more signals in general if more bonobos in the social audience are nearby, suggesting bonobos adapt their signals depending on who is nearby."

This is particularly interesting and exciting as it gives us insight into ape cognition. Where humans are known to express emotions contextually and even strategically, it has long been assumed that expressions from our primate relatives are just direct outward expressions they have no control over. This study suggests that apes not only can control their emotional expressions and behavior, but that they do so with goals and strategies in mind much like we do.

Read the full article here!

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Are any primates susceptible to the uncanny valley?

Yes! You.

In all seriousness, the uncanny valley is a distinctly human concept that is not even fully understood in us, so we really cant apply it to other species. It is likely a symptom of our species specific branch of cognitive function.

Other primates can be “creeped out“ so to speak by lifelike things or corpses, but it’s not like we can look inside their minds to tell if their feelings and perceptions match ours in this area. The only species that experiences the uncanny valley for sure is humans.

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Are primates able to pass the mirror test? I've seen a few videos of different primates being given mirrors as enrichment, but I'm a little concerned about whether that would cause aggression or fawning. Like with parrots, giving them mirrors is an absolute no-no since it can cause them to become obsessed with the reflection or even respond hormonally to it, and become really protective of it and aggressive. Do primates not have the same issue?

Some primates in the great ape group such as chimps can pass the mirror test, and primates that cannot/do not recognize their reflections will typically react as though they are seeing another of their species. This makes their reactions context dependant-- many enjoy seeing the mystery primate in the mirror, and others perceive that they are being threatened by a new presence in their area. Consequently mirrors can usually be used in captivity settings as reflections are met more with curiosity than hostility, but it depends.

Any primate that is properly socialized and provided with appropriate social opportunities will not develop an unhealthy obsession with a mirror. Primates who can recognize their reflections need to learn to do so and may take a while to understand that they are seeing themselves, but this is also true for humans.