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ANIMALS THINK AND TALK
Kanzi, a 29 year old male bonobo photographed at the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa Finlay Mackay for TIME var ad = adFactory.getAd(88, 31); ad.setPosition(8) ad.write();
The following is an abridged version of an article that appears in the August 16, 2010, print and iPad editions of TIME magazine. Not long ago, I spent the morning having coffee with Kanzi. Kanzi is a fellow of few words — 384 of them by formal count, though he probably knows dozens more. He has a very clear, very expressive and very loud voice, but it's not especially good for forming words, which is the way of things when you're a bonobo. But Kanzi is talkative all the same. He keeps a sort of glossary close at hand — three laminated sheets filled with hundreds of colorful symbols that represent all the words he's been taught or picked up on his own. He can build thoughts and sentences, even conjugate, all by pointing. (See a portfolio of smart animals.) Kanzi knows the value of breaking the ice. So he points to the coffee icon on his glossary and then points to me. He then sweeps his arm wider, taking in primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, an investigator at the Great Ape Trust —the research center in Des Moines, Iowa, that Kanzi calls home — and lab supervisor Tyler Romine. Romine fetches four coffees, takes one to Kanzi in his enclosure on the other side of a Plexiglas window, and then rejoins us. Kanzi sips and, since our voices are picked up by microphones, he listens as we talk. (Comment on this story.) "He's been stubborn this morning," Savage-Rumbaugh tells me, "and we couldn't get him to come out to the yard. So we had to negotiate a piece of honeydew melon in exchange." Honeydew is not yet on Kanzi's word list; instead, he points to the glyphs for green, yellow and watermelon. (See photos of the animals of Kenya: up close and personal.) Kanzi is by no means the first ape to have been taught language. But the Trust takes a novel approach, raising apes from birth with spoken and symbolic language as a constant feature of their days. Just as human mothers take babies on walks and chatter to them about what they see even though the child does yet not understand, so too do the scientists at the Trust narrate the lives of their bonobos. With such total immersion, the apes are learning to communicate better, faster and with greater complexity. (See photos of the amazing moms of the animal kingdom.) Humans have a fraught relationship with beasts. They are our companions and our laborers. We love them and cage them, admire them and abuse them. And, of course, we cook and eat them. Our dodge has always been that animals are ours to do with as we please simply because they don't suffer the way we do. They don't think, not in any meaningful way. But one by one, the berms we've built between ourselves and the beasts are being washed away. Humans are the only animals that use tools, we used to say. But what about the birds and apes that we now know do as well? And as for humans as the only beasts with language? Kanzi himself could tell you that's not true. All of that is forcing us to look at animals in a new way. It's not enough to study an animal's brain; we need to know its mind. (See the top 10 animal stories of 2009.) Read about how social animals are not necessarily brainier. See photos of seven amazing animal hybrids. To read this article in its entirety, pick up a copy of TIME magazine at your local newsstand or download the TIME iPad app. Or, to have TIME magazine delivered to your door every week, subscribe. tiiQuigoWriteAd(755774, 1490597, 440, 225, -1);Comment on this Story
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  Shawn Jones  Animals never cease to amaze me. But I have to say, the 1975 book Animal Liberation was not the beginning of the animal rights movement. Henry Bergh began the American animal rights movement in the late 1800s, with the founding of the ASPCA in New York City. He based the organization on a similar one he observed in Great Britain, which was called the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It was "Our Henry, the Great Meddler" who began the movement over a horse that was being beaten by it's driver. Today, 12:09:43 AM – Flag – Like – Reply – Delete – Edit – Moderate   Mary  I have always believed that animals were intelligent and loving beings. I grew up on a dairy farm with many animals and knew from little on that they were not stupid or unfeeling. In the early 1990's, I visited the Bonobos in the Milwaukee Zoo and made eye contact with several members of the tribe. But I felt a strong connection to one of the elder males who held my gaze for a few moments and in that time I felt the pain of being caged. I hope all mankind can realize the pain we cause the beings we share this planet with and take steps to change our thoughtless uncaring ways. Today, 12:08:21 AM – Flag – Like – Reply – Delete – Edit – Moderate   Claire M  Hi, I was surprised that Alex the Africian Grey was not mentioned within the article. Yesterday, 11:57:05 PM – Flag – Like – Reply – Delete – Edit – Moderate   Emily Carter  See mothering behavior of Texas Longhorns for social interaction and thoughtful awareness in species evolved from domestic cattle. Yesterday, 11:32:33 PM – Flag – Like – Reply – Delete – Edit – Moderate   Elizabeth Pope  The article states that the dog is the only animal that recognizes a pointing finger as indicative of something of interest in that direction. That is not true--horses can learn this as well. Yesterday, 5:50:47 AM – Flag – Like – Reply – Delete – Edit – Moderate   Thomas Elpel  The conscious mind is an emergent property of language. Without language we would not know that we exist.   John Rodriguez  Is it just me? Or does that cute little monkey face look like he's saying, "You dumb-a$ stupid 8itches."? 2 days ago, 4:19:50 PM – Flag – Like – Reply – Delete – Edit – Moderate window.JSKitLabels = { from: "Login", loginRequiredNotice: "Login required. Click Login.", to: "Share", //defaultThreadTitle: "TIME" }; adFactory.getMultiAd(new Array('300x250', '336x280','300x600','468x648')).write(); Most Popular »Full List » MOST READ MOST EMAILED
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