Communication and Learning 91they cannot literally speak, it is now clear that all of the
great ape species can develop language skills to the level
of a 2- to 3-year-old human child.^20 Interestingly, a Japa-
nese research team led by primatologist Tetsuro Matsu-
zawa recently demonstrated that chimps can outperform
college students at a computer-based memory game. The
researchers propose that human brains have lost some of
the spatial skill required to master this game to allow for
more sophisticated human language.^21
Observations of monkeys and apes have shown learn-
ing abilities remarkably similar to those of humans.
Numerous examples of inventive behavior have been ob-
served among monkeys, as well as among apes. The snow
monkeys or macaques of the research colony on Koshima
Island, Japan, are particularly famous for demonstrating
that individuals can invent new behaviors that then get
passed on to the group through imitation.monkeys capable of warning one another of the presence
of predators would have a significant survival advantage
over those without this capability. However, these warning
situations are enigmatic to evolutionary biologists because
they would expect the animals to act in their own self-in-
terest, with survival of self paramount. By giving an alarm
call, an individual calls attention to itself, thereby becom-
ing an obvious target for the predator. How, then, could
altruism, or concern for the welfare of others, evolve so
that individuals place themselves at risk for the good of
the group? One biologist’s solution substitutes money for
reproductive fitness to illustrate how such cooperative be-
havior may have come about:
You are given a choice. Either you can receive $10
and keep it all or you can receive $10 million if you
give $6 million to your next door neighbor. Which
would you do? Guessing that most selfish people
would be happy with a net gain of $4 million, I con-
sider the second option to be a form of selfish behav-
ior in which a neighbor gains an incidental benefit.
I have termed such selfish behavior benevolent.^18
Natural selection of beneficial social traits was prob-
ably an important influence on human evolution, since in
the primates some degree of cooperative social behavior
became important for food-getting, defense, and mate
attraction. Indeed, anthropologist Christopher Boehm
argues, “If human nature were merely selfish, vigilant
punishment of deviants would be expected, whereas the
elaborate prosocial prescriptions that favor altruism would
come as a surprise.”^19
Evolution has shaped primates to be social creatures,
and communication is thus integral to our order. Experi-
ments with captive apes, carried out over several decades,
reveal that their communicative abilities exceed what they
make use of in the wild. In some of these experiments,
bonobos and chimpanzees have been taught to communi-
cate using symbols, as in the case of Kanzi, a bonobo who
uses a visual keyboard. Other chimpanzees, gorillas, and
orangutans have been taught American Sign Language.
Although this research is controversial, in part be-
cause it challenges notions of human uniqueness, it has
become evident that apes are capable of understanding
language quite well, even using rudimentary grammar.
They are able to generate original utterances, ask ques-
tions, distinguish naming something from asking for it,
develop original ways to tell lies, coordinate their actions,
and spontaneously teach language to others. Even though
(^18) Nunney, L. (1998). Are we selfish because are we nice, or are we nice
because we are selfish? Science 281, 1619.
(^19) Boehm, C. (2000). The evolution of moral communities. School of
American Research, 2000 Annual Report, 7.
The Great Ape Trust, photo courtesy of Sue Savage–Rumbaugh
Kanzi, the 23-year-old bonobo at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, com-
municates with primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh by pointing to
visual images called lexigrams. With hundreds of lexigrams, Kanzi
can communicate thoughts and feelings he wishes to express. He
also understands spoken language and can reply in a conversation
with the lexigrams. Kanzi began to learn this form of communication
when he was a youngster, tagging along while his mother had lan-
guage lessons. Though he showed no interest in the lessons, later he
spontaneously began to use lexigrams himself.
altruism Concern for the welfare of others expressed as
increased risk undertaken by individuals for the good of the
group.
(^20) Lestel, D. (1998). How chimpanzees have domesticated humans. Anthro-
pology Today 12 (3); Miles, H. L. W. (1993). Language and the orangutan:
The “old person” of the forest. In P. Cavalieri & P. Singer (Eds.), The Great
Ape Project (pp. 45–50). New York: St. Martin’s.
(^21) Inoue, S., Matsuzawa, T. (2007). “Working Memory of Numerals in
Chimpanzees.” Current Biology, 17 (23), 1004–1005.