JohnCenaFan28
03-11-2009, 01:40 AM
Researchers say a chimpanzee which collects rocks to throw at zoo visitors has proved apes can plan ahead like humans.
Santino, a 31-year-old alpha male, begins building his weapons cache in the morning before the zoo opens.
He collects rocks and knocks out discs from concrete boulders in his enclosure at Furuvik zoo in Sweden, reports Sky News.
Then at midday he would unleash a "hailstorm" of rocks at visitors, the Swedish study found.
The findings are reported in the journal Current Biology which says there has been scant evidence in previous research that animals can plan for future events.
Crucial to the current study is the fact that Santino collected the stones in a calm state, prior to the zoo opening in the morning.
The launching of the stones occurred hours later - during dominance displays to zoo visitors - with Santino in an "agitated" state.
Swedish PhD student Mathias Osvath released a report on Santino's actions after studying him and interviewing zookeepers who had looked after him for 10 years.
Mr Osvath said: "These observations convincingly show that our fellow apes do consider the future in a very complex way.
"It implies that they have a highly developed consciousness, including lifelike mental simulations of potential events."
-Nova
Santino, a 31-year-old alpha male, begins building his weapons cache in the morning before the zoo opens.
He collects rocks and knocks out discs from concrete boulders in his enclosure at Furuvik zoo in Sweden, reports Sky News.
Then at midday he would unleash a "hailstorm" of rocks at visitors, the Swedish study found.
The findings are reported in the journal Current Biology which says there has been scant evidence in previous research that animals can plan for future events.
Crucial to the current study is the fact that Santino collected the stones in a calm state, prior to the zoo opening in the morning.
The launching of the stones occurred hours later - during dominance displays to zoo visitors - with Santino in an "agitated" state.
Swedish PhD student Mathias Osvath released a report on Santino's actions after studying him and interviewing zookeepers who had looked after him for 10 years.
Mr Osvath said: "These observations convincingly show that our fellow apes do consider the future in a very complex way.
"It implies that they have a highly developed consciousness, including lifelike mental simulations of potential events."
-Nova