Choose All That Apply: Bonobos Have Shown That They Can Communicate

Ape Genius

Classroom Activity

Activity Summary
Students apply a viewing guide while watching a program about the scientific discipline of ape intelligence and, after watching, talk over answers to questions related to similarities and differences between intelligence in apes and in humans.

Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:

• discuss unlike ape and human being behaviors and how they are related to intelligence.

• describe experiments that scientists utilise to assess ape intelligence.

• compare and contrast intelligence in apes and humans.

• copy of "Ape Genius?" student handout
  (PDF or HTML)
• copy of "Studying Apes and Humans" educatee handout
  (PDF or HTML)
• pencil or pen

Groundwork
One of the ongoing discussions in behavioral research is most whether the not-human not bad apes (chimps, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas) are as intelligent as human being beings. Intelligence refers to the power to larn, reason, plan, think abstractly, comprehend ideas, and solve problems. It involves the power to understand and profit from experience and to apply that knowledge to cope with, interact with, and dispense the exterior world.

A number of experiments and field inquiry projects have been conducted to assess ape intelligence. These studies look at key skills and behaviors that are associated with intelligence in humans. Primal factors include:

• mechanical aptitude (Do apes make and use tools? Can apes dispense items in their environment for a purpose?)

• fake (Do apes learn by copying?)

• cooperation (Will apes cooperate to maximize self-interest?)

• social emotions (Tin can apes empathise responsibleness and intent? Do they exhibit impulse command? Can they empathize?)

• math and advice skills (Practice apes demonstrate an agreement of symbols and numbers? Can they communicate ideas either verbally or nonverbally? Do they engage in an substitution of ideas and information?)

• comprehension (Can apes comprehend abstract ideas? Are they able to utilise previous noesis to new situations?)

1. Organize students into teams. Assign each team to rails experiments and field observations in 1 of the following categories:

   A: Mechanical Aptitude
   B: Imitation
   C: Cooperation
   D: Social Emotions
   E: Math/Symbol Skills
   F: Communication

2. Distribute a copy of the pupil handouts to each team before viewing.

3. Bear witness the program and have students individually accept notes on the topic their team has been assigned.

4. Later watching the program, have students meet in their teams to discuss their notes. Enquire teams to come to consensus on the observations fabricated in each experiment and the conclusions drawn based on those observations.

5. Use the following questions to have a class discussion about what researchers inferred almost the experimental results and observations in regard to what the similarities and differences are between apes and humans:

   • What examples signal that apes can manipulate items in their environment for a purpose? (Some examples included chimps making spears and apes finding ways to get food that would otherwise take been inaccessible.)

   • How is imitation similar and different in apes and in humans? (Both apes and humans volition imitate processes they see others of their ain kind doing. Humans will copy other humans verbatim even if it includes unnecessary actions, while apes will not.)

   • How is cooperation similar and different in apes and in humans? (In general, apes do not cooperate well—with the exception of the bonobos—because they tend to allow emotions such as rivalry and lack of impulse control impede cooperation. Humans cooperate more extensively.)

   • How is communication similar and dissimilar in apes and in humans? (Like humans, apes can communicate their wants or respond to directly commands or questions. Unlike humans, apes seem to lack an "intent to communicate," that is, there is no direct sharing of such things as thoughts, questions, and ideas.)

   • What evidence supports the concept that chimps exhibit signs of intelligence similar to that of humans? (Apes exhibit the ability to imitate, to make up one's mind intent, to use symbols, to display positive social emotions, to cooperate, and to problem-solve.)

   • What are some abilities that humans take that fix them apart from apes? (Humans are better able to control their emotions, they take a more powerful power to infer what others are thinking, and they are invested in pedagogy and learning, which allows the connected transfer of noesis to future generations.)

6. To conclude, inquire students to consider the conclusions drawn by the researchers. Which experiments or field observations and conclusions did students think were near valid? Why? Which did students retrieve were least valid? Why? (Students may be more confident in experiments that were done many times or with many subjects, or field observations that were washed over a long menses of fourth dimension or by a number dissimilar enquiry groups. They may exist less confident well-nigh an experiment washed with one individual or with a researcher who may appear to accept a research bias with his or her subjects.)

7. As an extension, have students generate questions they take about ape intelligence. Group together students who accept related questions. Have teams research and answer their own questions and present their findings to the course.

The post-obit nautical chart lists some of the observations made and conclusions drawn in the experiments shown in the program.

Team	Experiment/Field Observation	Research Question(due south)	Subject	Observations	Conclusions
A	Mechanical Aptitude
	chimpanzees in Fongoli, Senegal	Is ape making tool?	chimps	chimps broke off branch, sharpened with teeth	apes are demonstrating mechanical bent
	peanut placed in clear tube	Can ape get peanut?	chimps	ape did zip for 10 minutes then suddenly used water as a tool	apes are demonstrating mechanical bent
B	Imitation
	grape in slot auto	Can apes from the same troop learn from another ape? From watching an ape from a rival group?	chimps	apes learned hands from same and rival troops	apes can learn by observation
	treat in opaque puzzle box, then in encounter-through box	Volition ape and human copy deportment to get treat?	chimps/humans	chimp and humans copied well on commencement box; on see-through box, chimps realized first step was unnecessary; humans did non	kids may imitate adults because they believe adults are performing the actions for a skillful reason
C	Cooperation
	food hidden under heavy stone	Can apes cooperate with apes, or with humans, to get nutrient?	chimps	chimps did not cooperate with each other but eventually did with humans	mayhap chimps knew humans wouldn't compete for food
	nutrient is placed on tray with rope attached to pull information technology in	Can apes cooperate to get food?	chimps	chimp went to become help	cooperation is the exception; teamwork doesn't come up naturally to chimps
	food placed in central box	Will apes cooperate and carve up food?	bonobos	bonobos cooperated	more congenial temperaments make bonobos more inclined to cooperate
D	Social Emotions
	treats dispensed on table; rope tin be pulled to stop experiment	Will ape choose to finish experiment?	chimps	chimp ended experiment when ape stole food but not when man moved food away	chimps tin can gauge who is responsible for something done; can determine intentions
	immature ape dies	Volition apes aid others despite big risk?	bonobos	chimps mounted defense of dead bonobo	bonobos will help some other at risk to themselves
	candy is placed in 2 dishes	Which dish volition ape cull?	chimps	chimp e'er chose dish with more processed	chimps did not exhibit impulse control
	candy placed in two dishes	Volition children wait to get more than candy?	humans	some children were patient; others were not	children with impulse control exhibited higher Sat scores
E	Math/Symbol Skills
	numerals displayed on screen	Could chimp count?	chimps	chimp performed several tasks with the numbers	learned numbers very differently from humans
	symbols are placed in two dishes	Which dish will ape cull?	chimps	chimps pointed to smaller numeral to get bigger prize	symbols can help distance ape from impulses
	bonobos follows verbal instructions	Can apes communicate?	bonobos	bonobo performed a number of requested tasks	shows ability to communicate but does not employ linguistic communication similar human
F	Advice
	treat under a loving cup	Will child or chimp know where care for is if pointed to?	humans/bonobos	kid could detect treat; chimp could not	maybe natural selection allowed humans to apply cooperative tools in means other species do not
	child and parent watching puppet show	Will child understand what pointing ways?	humans	children understood that pointing meant to pay attention to some other object	mother and babies pay full attention to each other with shared goal and commitment
	ball moved from one bag to another	Will child be able to infer when someone else will or volition non know the brawl has been moved?	chimps/humans	three-twelvemonth-old did non know what others knew; iv-twelvemonth-olds did	humans could know what someone else thinking
	experimenter shows he wants to steal nutrient	Will chimp have into business relationship what the researcher knows?	chimps	chimp stole food from place chimp thought experimenter could not run into	chimps exhibit some ability to determine what others know

Web Sites

NOVA—Ape Genius
www.pbs.org/nova/apegenius
Features manufactures, interviews, interactive activities, and resource to accompany the program.

Chimpanzee Central—The Jane Goodall Institute's Chimpanzee Resource
www.janegoodall.org/chimp_central/default.asp
Includes data about chimpanzees' habitat, physical characteristics, social organisation, and communication.

Living Links
www.emory.edu/living_links
Provides information most current research on primates, an sound and video library, academic publications, and more than.

Primate Info Net: About the Primates
pin.primate.wisc.edu/aboutp/
Includes an extensive series of fact sheets about the unlike primate species, which embrace morphology, ecology, behavior, and conservation forth with range maps, images, and a glossary of terms. Also includes resource on evolution, myths and legends, diseases, and taxonomy.

Remember Tank
nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ThinkTank/default.cfm
Examines the question "What is thinking?" every bit it relates to the dandy apes. Includes detailed manufactures about the science behind the exhibit equally well equally a photo gallery.

Books

The Cracking Apes: Our Side by side of Kin
by Michelle A. Gilders. Greystone Books, 2000.
Presents information on the dissimilar slap-up apes' habitats, members, behavior, and mating habits, along with anecdotes of the animals' delineation in literature, myths well-nigh members of the species, and tales of famous animals.

The Nifty Apes: Our Confront in Nature's Mirror
by Michael Leach. Sterling Publishing, 1998.
Provides an introduction to the slap-up apes that includes comparisons of human and ape behavioral and cultural adaptations.

Reaching into Thought: The Minds of the Great Apes
by Anne Eastward. Russon, Kim A. Bard, and Sue Taylor Parker, editors. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Investigates the qualities that set the intelligence of chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans apart from that of other non-human being primates and humans.

The "Ape Genius?" activeness aligns with the post-obit National Science Education Standards (run into books.nap.edu/html/nses).

Grades 9-12
Life Science
• Biological evolution
• The behavior of organisms

History and Nature of Science
• Nature of scientific knowledge

Classroom Activity Author

Margy Kuntz has written and edited educational materials for more twenty years. She has authored numerous educational supplements, basal text materials, and merchandise books on science, math, and computers.

jacobsonafor1997.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/activities/3504_apegeniu.html

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