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From: DawnWatch - news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Apr 17, 2007 10:45 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: NY Times on chimps –”Almost Human, and Sometimes Smarter.” 4/17/07

The Tuesday, April 17, New York Times has an interesting article on the cover of the Science section (page F1), by John Noble Wilford, on the intelligence of chimps. It is headed “Almost Human, and Sometimes Smarter.”

It tells us that certain similarities between chimps and humans “go beyond expressive faces and opposable thumbs.”

It says:

“Chimps display a remarkable range of behavior and talent. They make and use simple tools, hunt in groups and engage in aggressive, violent acts. They are social creatures that appear to be capable of empathy, altruism, self-awareness, cooperation in problem solving and learning through example and experience. Chimps even outperform humans in some memory tasks.”

It discusses researchers having “found that chimps as social animals have had to constrain and alter their behavior in various ways, as have humans.” That phenomenon is compared to human morality. It notes that chimps use tools.

As for chimps outperforming humans on memory tasks, we read:

“Tetsuro Matsuzawa, a Kyoto primatologist, described a young chimp watching as numbers 1 through 9 flashed on the computer screen at random positions. Then the numbers disappeared in no more than a second. White squares remained where the numbers had been. The chimp casually but swiftly pressed the squares, calling back the numbers in ascending order — 1, 2, 3, etc.

“The test was repeated several times, with the numbers and squares in different places. The chimp, which had months of training accompanied by promised food rewards, almost never failed to remember where the numbers had been. The video included scenes of a human failing the test, seldom recalling more than one or two numbers, if any.

“‘Humans can’t do it,’ Dr. Matsuzawa said. ‘Chimpanzees are superior to humans in this task.’”

The article also discusses mirror recognition, mourning, and caring for others.

We read:

“Devyn Carter of Emory described the sympathetic response to a chimp named Knuckles, who was afflicted with cerebral palsy. No fellow chimp was seen to take advantage of his disability. Even the alpha male gently groomed Knuckles.”

You’ll find the whole lengthy article on line at www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/science/17chimp.html.

It presents a great opportunity for letters to the editor on any aspect of our treatment of other species.

The New York Times takes letters at letters [at] nytimes.com.

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor.

Yours and the animals’,
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited — leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts dawnwatch ethology primatology primates chimpanzees chimps animal intelligence