Post by Julian on Mar 11, 2009 6:07:52 GMT -5
This doesn't belong in the science and technology section... It's absurdly patronising for starters, and it's conclusions are childish.
What was interesting, was the fact that Santino is potentially rebelling and railing against his environment, lashing out at tormentors (or those he associates with it) and definitively secreting his actions and cache from his keepers (guards).
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25167764-30417,00.html
The only halfway sensible thing he said was this, and he totally spoilt it with his 'qualifiers'... think, might, and probably.
I think that wild chimpanzees might be even better at planning as they probably rely on it for their daily survival."
Why don't you fuck off to the Congo and tell us then instead of spouting utter idiocy and overly sensationalist claims about your 'work'. If you'd kept across other people's work you'd know you're full of shit.
What was interesting, was the fact that Santino is potentially rebelling and railing against his environment, lashing out at tormentors (or those he associates with it) and definitively secreting his actions and cache from his keepers (guards).
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25167764-30417,00.html
WHEN Santino the chimpanzee started pelting zoo visitors with stones, his keepers were mystified.
Not that they were surprised by his displays of aggression -- the 31-year-old chimp is, after all, a dominant male. But there was no obvious source of stones in his enclosure; so where was he finding all the missiles?
All became clear when they carried out a search and found his stockpiles of rocks. Santino had been fishing stones from the moat surrounding his enclosure -- and, even more impressively, he had been shaping odd pieces of concrete into disc-shaped missiles. Then he had been stashing them away for future use.
Fortunately for visitors to Furuvik Zoo, in Sweden, Santino wasn't very good at throwing, preferring the underarm method, so no one was badly hurt. But his behaviour has led scientists to conclude that premeditation is not a uniquely human trait.
It seems chimpanzees, too, are capable of planning, and have a sophisticated understanding of past and future. The chimp is also furtive about his behaviour, as if he knows he is being sneaky.
"I've never been able to get a good picture of him collecting the stones," said Mathias Osvath, of Lund University, who has made a study of Santino. "As soon as he sees you he stops."
Dr Osvath said the chimp's behaviour was the first unambiguous evidence of spontaneous planning in a non-human animal.
While chimpanzees had been shown to plan ahead in an experimental setting before, previous observations in either wild or captive circumstances had never been able to exclude other explanations for apparent premeditation, Dr Osvath said.
"Previous cases that could be explained in terms of planning have been anecdotal, but this rests on a decade of observation," Dr Osvath said. "Santino is noticeably calm when he collects his stones or makes his discs, and it is always several hours before he uses them in his dominance displays, when he is very agitated."
He said the findings, published in the journal Current Biology, suggested that chimpanzees had a highly developed consciousness, through which they could conceive of the past and the future, and prepare for actions they intended to undertake later.
"These observations convincingly show that our fellow apes do consider the future in a very complex way," Dr Osvath said.
"It implies that they have a highly developed consciousness, including lifelike mental simulations of potential events. They most probably have an 'inner world' like we have when reviewing past episodes of our lives or thinking of days to come."
Something similar almost certainly happened in the wild, he added: "I think that wild chimpanzees might be even better at planning as they probably rely on it for their daily survival."
Santino was born in Munich Zoo in Germany in 1978 and was moved to Furuvik Zoo at the age of five. He became the dominant male in his group at the age of 16. He is now 31, which is the prime of life for a male chimp. The animals can live to about 50 in the wild and to 60 in captivity. So there's plenty of time to perfect his overarm technique.
The Times
Not that they were surprised by his displays of aggression -- the 31-year-old chimp is, after all, a dominant male. But there was no obvious source of stones in his enclosure; so where was he finding all the missiles?
All became clear when they carried out a search and found his stockpiles of rocks. Santino had been fishing stones from the moat surrounding his enclosure -- and, even more impressively, he had been shaping odd pieces of concrete into disc-shaped missiles. Then he had been stashing them away for future use.
Fortunately for visitors to Furuvik Zoo, in Sweden, Santino wasn't very good at throwing, preferring the underarm method, so no one was badly hurt. But his behaviour has led scientists to conclude that premeditation is not a uniquely human trait.
It seems chimpanzees, too, are capable of planning, and have a sophisticated understanding of past and future. The chimp is also furtive about his behaviour, as if he knows he is being sneaky.
"I've never been able to get a good picture of him collecting the stones," said Mathias Osvath, of Lund University, who has made a study of Santino. "As soon as he sees you he stops."
Dr Osvath said the chimp's behaviour was the first unambiguous evidence of spontaneous planning in a non-human animal.
While chimpanzees had been shown to plan ahead in an experimental setting before, previous observations in either wild or captive circumstances had never been able to exclude other explanations for apparent premeditation, Dr Osvath said.
"Previous cases that could be explained in terms of planning have been anecdotal, but this rests on a decade of observation," Dr Osvath said. "Santino is noticeably calm when he collects his stones or makes his discs, and it is always several hours before he uses them in his dominance displays, when he is very agitated."
He said the findings, published in the journal Current Biology, suggested that chimpanzees had a highly developed consciousness, through which they could conceive of the past and the future, and prepare for actions they intended to undertake later.
"These observations convincingly show that our fellow apes do consider the future in a very complex way," Dr Osvath said.
"It implies that they have a highly developed consciousness, including lifelike mental simulations of potential events. They most probably have an 'inner world' like we have when reviewing past episodes of our lives or thinking of days to come."
Something similar almost certainly happened in the wild, he added: "I think that wild chimpanzees might be even better at planning as they probably rely on it for their daily survival."
Santino was born in Munich Zoo in Germany in 1978 and was moved to Furuvik Zoo at the age of five. He became the dominant male in his group at the age of 16. He is now 31, which is the prime of life for a male chimp. The animals can live to about 50 in the wild and to 60 in captivity. So there's plenty of time to perfect his overarm technique.
The Times
The only halfway sensible thing he said was this, and he totally spoilt it with his 'qualifiers'... think, might, and probably.
I think that wild chimpanzees might be even better at planning as they probably rely on it for their daily survival."
Why don't you fuck off to the Congo and tell us then instead of spouting utter idiocy and overly sensationalist claims about your 'work'. If you'd kept across other people's work you'd know you're full of shit.