Chimps in Japan have been seen helping their companions out, purely on the basis of need. They would hand tools over to chimps in a nearby pen; and most notably this was most likely to happen if the chimp really needed the tool and requested it, rather than if they just wanted it to play with. This shows that chimps care about the welfare of their fellows and will assist them even if there is nothing to be gained themselves.
This helping is not just reserved for other chimps too – in a previous study by Warneken, chimps were also witnessed helping humans in a similar task and handing a stick to them on request. Videos of both of these experiments can be found below.
Chimp helps human- scroll down the page, and play the first video in the list.
Sources:
Yamamoto, S., Humle, T.,Tanaka, M. (2009)
Chimpanzees Help Each Other upon Request
PLoS ONE, 4(10): e7416
Warneken, F., Hare, B., Melis, A. P., Hanus, D., Tomasello, M.
Spontaneous Altruism by Chimpanzees and Young Children
PLoS Biol 5(7): e184
Sakura, a baby chimpanzee, is showing that chimps prefer melodic music. During a research trial to see which kind of music Sakura would chose, she preferred to listen to a pleasant melody than to discordant musical chords.
Santino, another clever chimp, who's at www.livesofanimals.org/2009/03/santino-rocks/
This shows us more fascinating evidence about the sentience of chimps. In this case, Sakura is in a human-designed, captive environment, which may be somewhat enriched, but which is still unnatural for a chimp. The fact that Sakura works out what to do in these circumstances tells us even more about chimp awareness and understanding. These abilities are strong indicators of animal sentience.
Sakura is not alone in preferring sweet music. Back in 2001, there was research investigating how cows reacted to fast beats or to softer music. The researchers said: “We found that slow music improved milk yields perhaps because it relaxes the cows in much the same way as it relaxes humans.”
Despite increasing awareness of animal sentience, there is still resistance to appreciating or acknowledging that animals are sentient beings and there is reluctance to peer over the barrier of “human vs other animals” that we ourselves have created.
Cows enjoy soothing sounds. Photo (c) Compassion in World Farming/Karen Playford
It was previously thought that this kind of choice and preference about music was a “uniquely human trait.” So we see that Sakura and the dairy cows have overcome yet another barrier!
Mila is a beluga whale at an aquarium in Harbin, NE China. The pool she lives in has an arctic temperature and is also used by divers. In a recent exercise, diver Yang Yun got into trouble and was unable to kick her way back up the surface. But suddenly she felt herself being pushed upwards – Mila was rescuing her.
According to reports, “Mila had spotted her difficulties and using her sensitive dolphin-like nose guided Yun safely to the surface.”
One of the staff is quoted as saying: “Mila noticed the problem before we did. She’s a sensitive animal who works closely with humans and I think this girl owes her her life.”
Belugas are very social and because they are so chatty, they are also known as sea canaries. When you have to swim great distances under ice in the Arctic Sea, it helps to be a good communicator so you can keep up with your pod and let each other know what’s going on. Sadly, beluga whales are yet another threatened species.
Apes, crows and dolphins have been seen to make and use tools. Now, captive rooks have joined the band of animals who are “tool users.”
Rooks have not been seen to use tools in the wild. But not only can they use tools, they can use two in succession and they can make new ones. This BBC article reports research in which the rooks worked out how to get a food treat from a apparatus consisting of a tube and a small trap door. They needed to choose a suitable stone and drop it into a tube to release the trap door and get their treat. They chose the heaviest stone as the most likely to be weighty enough to make the trap door open. They also had to choose from different-shaped stones, not all of which would fit into the tube. They chose the best-shaped stone! Here’s the film of the clever rooks with rocks.
Rooks are even more clever than we thought. Photo: foxypar4
The birds also quickly learnt how to bend a straight piece of wire to make a hook, so they could pull up a small container with food in it from the bottom of a test tube. It is amazing to see! Watch the film clip.
Betty, a captive New Caledonian crow, was the only captive bird who had previously been seen to do this. Crows in the wild do use tools, such as twigs and leaves. They use their beaks to make these tools into a satisfactory shape and then pick up ants and other insects. They also use grass stems. The rooks showed they can use and make tools too; three out of four made a hook in their first trial. One of the researchers pointed out: “The study shows the creativity and insight that rooks have when they solve problems.”
Rooks also understand that they can work in pairs to get a good food source. In this experiment, also reported by the BBC, researchers put two hooks on a small tray which had treats for the rooks, and then put a length of string through the hooks. The rooks were in an enclosure and the tray was just out of their reach. To pull the tray to them and get the food, each rook needed to pull on the strings at either side of the tray. The rooks all worked this out – some immediately and others took a bit longer. The rooks’ understanding of this “need for team work” is said to be as good as that of chimpanzees. Here’s the film clip of the dexterous rooks.
Rooks and crows are both in the corvid family, along with jackdaws, jays, magpies and ravens. These birds have long had a reputation for being clever and researcher Nathan Bird at the University of Cambridge said: “I would rate corvids as being as intelligent as primates in many ways.”
Karta, a 27-year old orang-utan, escaped from her zoo enclosure by twisting the wires in the electric fence with a stick, making them short-circuit.
According to Sky News, clever Karta then “piled up debris to help her climb over a concrete and glass wall.”
Karta took herself back to the enclosure after an hour. The zoo curator says that Karta is ”ingenious”, and that she watches the day to day activities of zoo staff with interest – probably to see what she can learn!
Many animals, including great apes, pigs and elephants, have developed intelligence to obtain a living from their complex environments. Orang-utans in nature live in the Indonesian rainforest, one of the most biodiverse environments in the world.
Lives of Animals.org has some concerns with the comment in this clip that Karta’s enclosure will be “pruned.” While increased security may be wanted, restricting Karta’s environment is unlikely to be the best outcome for her. While the zoo has clearly attempted to provide an interesting enclosure for Karta, perhaps her escape attempt tells us that all is not well with her world. We have to ask to what extent is it possible to provide for the needs of complex, wide-ranging animals in captivity?
Never underestimate an orang-utan There’s a anecdote often told about great apes and if you know its origins, please let us know.
Don't underestimate us
If you give a screwdriver to a gorilla, he will look at it briefly and then discard it.
If you give the screwdriver to a chimp, he’ll think of a hundred uses for it.
If you give the screwdriver to an orang-utan, he’ll pretend to ignore it until you’ve gone, when he will let himself of the cage with it…
More information
You can read more about amazing orang-utans here.
Snowball, a cockatoo who lives at a bird rescue centre, seems to love to dance. This clip shows us that Snowball can keep time as well as many humans!
Scientists looked at YouTube videos to see which animals could do this. Alex the African Grey parrot was famous for his abilities to count and to distinguish between colours and shapes – and he could also keep the beat. In fact, the video search found that 14 different species of parrot who kept time to music.
The scientists said: “Our analyses showed that these birds’ movements were more lined up with the musical beat than we’d expect by chance. … We found strong evidence that they were synchronizing with the beat, something that has not been seen before in other species.”
They suggest that the parts of the brain used for copying sounds are also involved in this ability to keep in time with the beat.
Jane Goodall’s observations of chimps revolutionised our knowledge of them as sentient beings. Chimps have strong family bonds and are skilled at using tools.
Santino, a chimp who is in a zoo in Sweden, has attracted huge media interest by his planning for the future. Chimps in zoos are known for throwing stones at visitors. But Santino has been searching his enclosure for stones and loose concrete. He has been both storing these up, and making discs out of concrete, to later throw at visitors to the zoo during what are called “dominance displays” (perhaps when he is stressed or fed up at being stared at).
Santino - a very clever chimp
The signs are, then, that chimps can plan for the future. Previously scientists had thought only humans were capable of planning ahead in this way, but based on these kinds of observations, it is likely that other animals can too. Dr Osvath, Santino’s researcher, is reported as saying: “I bet there must be a lot of these kinds of behaviours out there, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we find them in dolphins or other species.”
What’s more, planning is not the end of Santino’s abilities, as the article tells us:
“Most interestingly, Santino seems to have learned how to spot weak parts of the concrete “boulders” in the centre of the enclosure. When water seeps into cracks in the concrete and freezes, portions become detached that make a hollow sound when tapped. Santino was observed gently knocking on the “boulders”, hitting harder to detach bits that were loosened and adding those to his stashes of ammunition.”
You can see Santino on the film clip below. Lives of Animals.org has some concerns with this clip. Firstly, it is entitled “Naughty chimp’s human ways”, when Santino is not “naughty”. The report says that if he carries on his “naughty ways”, staff will keep him indoors. Santino already has a far from natural life and it’s important to seek a better answer such as enriching his environment, rather than restricting it further.
Zoo staff are said to be calling Santino "The Thinker."
Animals are capable of experiencing a rich quality of life and Santino’s story shows us how clever they can be. In our treatment of animals, we need to pay attention to their quality of life.
