• Question: What is the smartest ape that you have come acrossed and what abilities does he posses?

    Asked by yanisabdellioui to Lewis on 10 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Lewis Dean

      Lewis Dean answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      That’s a tricky question because lots of apes are good at different things (just like humans can be better at maths or English or PE). However, overall I think that one of the smartest apes that I have ever worked with is Kiht (whose picture is on my profile page). She solves puzzles really quickly. She is also really curious, if you show her anything she will always try to work out how to take it apart.

Comments

  • Photo: yanisabdellioui

    yanisabdellioui commented on :

    that sounds fascinating, but is it common to find apes that have high intellectual behavior and how exactly do they learn or is it similar to humans aswell

    • Photo: Lewis

      Lewis commented on :

      Apes (I will use ‘apes’ to mean non-humans, but be aware that humans are apes too) are generally all pretty smart in many ways. However, like humans, some apes are better at different things. Some might be really good at making friends or getting food and others might be really at solving some types of puzzles.

      There are all sorts of ways that we learn, but the basic ways that all animals learn are the same. However, humans are unique in the amount of teaching we do (deliberately showing other people how to do something) and are much more likely to share things than many other species (but there is a little teaching and some sharing in other species).

  • Photo: Ian

    Ian commented on :

    Have you ever met Kanzi or Koko? I’d love to see them in the flesh