Susan Savage-Rumbaugh gives a Ted talk about Bonobo Monkeys:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/susan_savage_rumbaugh_on_apes_that_write.html
Susan Savage-Rumbaugh works with Bonobo monkeys. She calls them the happiest species.
Some interesting things about the Bonobo:
-- They are remarkably human & can even walk bipedally for long distances.
-- They are learning tasks from humans -- starting fires, writing, playing video games, playing music, cutting hide -- by watching (not by being taught/trained).
-- "Sexual behavior is not confined to one aspect of their life that they set aside. It permeates their entire life, it's used for communication and for conflict resolution."
What Susan Savage-Rumbaugh has learned from these monkeys:
"I think that as we look at culture we kind of come to understand how we got to where we (humans) are and I don't really think it's in our biology. I think we've attributed it to our biology but I don't really think it's there."
above image from: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1729362,00.html
2 comments:
Take a look at WOMEN AND EVOLUTION, a Google Knol written by Winifred Beam Kessler.
The offspring of bonobos are so gentle and look very much like human babies, I wouldn't be surprised that they can do many of the things we can.
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