Intelligent apes!
Scientists found that some great apes can understand when a person doesn’t know something and can help them.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, USA, saw that bonobos would show where treats were hidden if their human friends didn’t know.
How was the study conducted?
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University wanted to see if bonobos could share information. They played a simple game with three bonobos.
A person hid a treat under one of three cups. Sometimes, another person saw where the treat was and the bonobo waited for their human friend to give them the treat. But if the person didn’t see, the bonobo pointed to the right cup to help!
This shows that bonobos can help others by sharing what they know, just like humans. The study proves that bonobos have a skill called the "theory of mind."
Theory of mind.
“Theory of mind “ means understanding what others know or don’t know. This helps people (and bonobos!) work together and learn from each other. Scientists once thought only humans had this skill, but now they know apes do too!
This study helps us understand how smart bonobos are. It also reminds us to protect them because they are endangered and live only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
