Science made a discovery that it described as “exciting” and “surprising” related to the species of bonobo apes (also known as pygmy or dwarf chimpanzees).
a study of the Universidad Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland, shared in the magazine Science shows that Bonobos are capable of playing tea with imaginary water. To follow the hypothetical game knowing that it is not real.
This ability to simulate an imaginary worldwhich until then was thought to be exclusive to humans, was proven through three experiments.
The experiments that tested the ability of bonobos to imagine
The researchers created scenarios resembling an imaginary children’s tea party. Worka 34-year-old bonobo, was seated at a table with a scientist. In the center they arranged empty jugs, cups and bowls.
At one point, the man pretended to pour juice into the two cups and asked the bonobo where the juice was. And the animal almost always pointed to the transparent cup that contained nothing inside.
Another experiment consisted of inviting the bonobo to differentiate a full cup from an empty one, and it knew that the cups in the first experiment were empty.
In the third and final experiment, the researcher simulated taking an imaginary grape from a bowl and placing it in one of two jars and then simulated emptying one of them. The ape recognized where the imaginary grape “was”.
“Kanzi’s performance cannot be explained by imitation, since the simulated actions of the experimenters were completely different from the pointing behavior that Kanzi displayed,” the study reads.
Amelia Bustosa former Johns Hopkins researcher, said: “It is extremely surprising and exciting that the data seem to suggest that apes, in their minds, can conceive things that do not exist (…) Kanzi is able to generate an idea of this imaginary object and, at the same time, know that it is not real.»
Christopher Krupenyeco-author of the study, stated: “It’s really revolutionary May your mental lives go beyond the here and now. Imagination has long been considered a crucial element of the human condition, but the idea that it may not be exclusive to our species is truly transformative.” For him, the result invites us to think about what other “mental lives” are out there.
“Our study provides experimental evidence that a non-human animal can track imaginary objects through novel displacements performed by a partner in a simulation game. Therefore, our findings suggest that the ability to represent imaginary objects is not exclusive to humans,” the text continues.
And he concludes: “Our findings suggest that the ability to form secondary representations of imaginary objects is within the cognitive potential of at least one acculturated ape, and probably dates back between 6 and 9 million years, to our common evolutionary ancestors.”
