Comments On: PBS Monkey in the Mirror

PBS Monkey In the Mirror note1of 6
How clever do you have to be to play computer games? Some monkeys actually do better in a certain computer game than people. We like to think our intelligence sets us apart from monkeys and apes. But is their intelligence more than just a dim reflection of our own?
Merlin was a twelve day old chimpanzee. His natural mother has abandoned him so he is being raised by human parents. A newborn chimp is very much like a human baby. In the first weeks Merlin responds to his adopted mother just as a child would. He gazes into her eyes. He response to her smile. In Chimp and human alike these exchanges help to bond mother and infant. Through out their long childhood both youngsters learn by watching mother and rely on her for support and guidance.
Babies, human or ape, gasps with their fingers some with their toes. Held upright, Merlin goes through the motions of walking just the way a human baby would. Lay them down and both clutch at the air and often complain. At three months both ape and human are both fairly helpless. But can focus their gaze on objects in the world around them. They begin to grasp things and explore them with their mouths. At this stage there is little difference in their abilities. If anything a chimp may be slightly ahead. At six months both are getting stronger, more coordinated and more curious. They are starting to explore their surroundings. Though anything new still goes straight into the mouth. It's not until its a year old that a chimp falls behind on a test with blocks and shapes. A human baby might make a pile with the blocks and try to fit the shapes into holes. For a chimp that will come latter, but even so the similarities in these early months are striking.
Why are we so alike? We share a common ancestor with monkeys and apes. It might of looked like an African bush baby. Like all primates it has forward facing eyes enabling it to see the world in three dimensions. Helping it judge distance. It has long fingers and thumbs slightly offset which help it to grip its prey. Hand and eye coordination is a key to primate success and is something we all share. Primates can perform delicate tasks such as plucking tiny young leaves from a spiny barricade of thorns or picking the best fig from the bunch. They also have another important ability, color vision. Some animals see only shades of gray, but to a monkey, a ripe red fruit stands out like a beacon in the green world of the forest.
Like us, monkeys and apes can make intricate movements with their fingers. Even a gorilla's enormous digits are capable of remarkable precision. The most incredible finger of all belongs to the aye-aye lemur a primitive primate from Madagascar. It eats beetle larvae. But first it has to find them. By tapping on branch the aye-aye creates an echo which helps it find the larvae's hidden tunnel. The extraordinary finger is like a primate Swiss Army knife, a versatile tool used for tapping, probing and hooking its prey.
If you aren't born with a tool kit you have to make your own. A chimp fishes for ants using a twig it has specially modified for the task. The ants cling to the twig enabling the chimp to capture the prey he couldn't reach without the tool. Chimps make tools to meet their specific needs. In a nearby population a chimp fishes for termites not ants. He strips leaves off a branch to make a similar kind of tool but one that is long and flexible to reach deep in termite holes. Until quite recently, we thought only humans could make and use tools. Brad and Trouble
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PBS Monkey in the Mirror note 2 of 6
Finding this ability in our simian relatives changed the way we think about ourselves. We've had to redefine what makes us human. The Ivory Coast West Africa, chimps here have a unique way of using tools. They have mastered a way of cracking nuts. First they gather some and bring them to a specially chosen location. Then they use a piece of wood for a hammer and a stump for an anvil. Hard nuts need a rock to break them. It is not as easy as it looks. They have to choose the appropriate size and shape of their tools and hit the nut just right. These skills have to be learned. An infant chimp starts by watching its mother with an occasional snack to keep it interested. It can take a youngster six years to perfect this technique. Skills like this handed down from generation after generation are the beginnings of culture.
Like human societies different populations develop different cultures. Tanzanian chimps don't crack nuts. Even though the same trees are found in their forest. On the shores of Lake Tangineka (sp?) they have their own unusual custom. They lick rocks. Apparently the rocks provide them with minerals and trace elements that maybe lacking from their diet. A trip to the rocks is a regular outing for these chimps. To take a mineral supplement chimpanzee style. Chimps have also discovered herbal medicine. One chimp strips the bark of a shoot to get to the bitter pit. Even though it has no nutritional value. Chimps eat it when they are sick. Especially during the rainy season when parasites are most common. Local people use this same remedy to treat upset stomachs.
Cracking nuts, fishing for termites and eating medicinal plants these are all chimpanzee traditions. These behaviors are learned and then past down though the generations like traditions and customs within our own cultures. When apes come in contact with people we can see just how quickly the pick up new habits. An orangutan was raised by people. Even though she now roams free in the forest in Borneo she still seeks out human company. She has never been taught to wash clothes. She just learned it from watching her human friends. Primates learn many things by watching others and enabling to require important social and survival skills. In this case she has acquired a skill that obviously has no value to her in the forest. Maybe she just does it for the fun of it.
June has her own way of having a little fun at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. She's been painting for nearly thirty years. She started with finger paints but she didn't like getting dirty. Now she uses a brush. When it comes apart she realizes that this tool won't work unless it's put back together. She is intently focused on her activity of painting. Painting seem to have some meaning for her. She is very clear when she is done with a particular painting. She may start a new one but she won't add a drop of paint when she has decided she is finished with it. Though her paintings are quite similar to those of a young child's, she's had three exhibitions. People have paid as much as $1400 for one of June's paintings. June is a chimpanzee.
Most primates are social creatures. The baboons of East Africa are one of the most social primates of all. They live in large troops. Living in a group has many advantages. It makes it easier to find food, mates, care for the young and spot danger. All though cheetahs don't hunt baboons it would chase one down if it became too annoying. The support of friends give some individuals the confidence to test the cat's patience. Brad and Trouble
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PBS Monkey in the Mirror note 3 of 6
Living in such a large group requires a complex system of rules and regulations. Troops are organized into hierarchies and an individual's position affects many aspects of its life, especially access to food and mates. Relationships are the key to baboon society. Just as with humans, being born in the right family and making the right friends can greatly affect your status in society. Even early relationships will be important in an individual's status latter on. Males have a tough time. They change troops throughout their lives, so they are always facing the challenge of finding acceptance.
Each male has his own way of integrating himself into the new society. Personality can be the deciding factor in a male's success. Some males are cool and calm and others are high strung and react to the slightest provocation. Sometimes they vent their anger on any individual that gets in their way. One male seems to pick fights with anyone. Aggression takes its toll on hyper active males regardless of whether they lose or win. Researchers have found that baboons that react so violently have high levels of stress hormones in their blood. The same association between violence and stress also occurs in people. Being aggressive isn't necessarily the best way to the top. A male that is calm is often more successful in the long run. One confident male fights only when he has to. When another male tries to take a female from him his action is prompt and effective.
The effects of stress are most evident when a group becomes over populated. Society breaks down and it's every primate for himself. It was shown Japanese macaques being fed as a tourist attraction. Unlimited food has enabled the population to increase way beyond its natural limitation. There are more than a thousand in the one troop alone. The normal size is about forty. For those monkeys living in an over crowded environment is very stressful. In the wild they would know every member of their troop. There that's impossible. One can end up being mugged in broad daylight and no one would come to its aide.
So how does a macaque cope living in a teeming mass of monkeys? They try to avoided confutations by avoiding each other and not looking each other in the eye. Every monkey feeds as fast as possible with its gaze firmly fixed on the ground. In order to survive life in such crowded situations monkey and people have the same solution. Limit close contact to a small group of family and friends. Individuals remain part of a wider group even though they don't know everyone in it.
After feeding for awhile the troop moves on and then, another troop takes its place. Another thousand monkeys stream down the hill. These enormous troops function as one unit, even if they are held together by little more than a common routine. Like the macaques, people have had to adapt to over crowded living conditions. Especially in urban areas. Today we live in groups far larger than our human ancestors
. Monkeys and humans do have a lot in common. But how do they compare when it comes to the subject of intelligence? We look in a mirror and see only ourselves. A monkey sees another monkey. No matter how long a mirror is left there it never recognizes its own image. Self recognition measures a special kind of intelligence. A sense of self. Most animals are not capable of this. But will a chimpanzee, our nearest relative, realize she is looking at her own image? At first the chimp's reaction is the same as the monkey's.. Brad and Trouble

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PBS Monkey in the Mirror note 3 of 6
Living in such a large group requires a complex system of rules and regulations. Troops are organized into hierarchies and an individual's position affects many aspects of its life, especially access to food and mates. Relationships are the key to baboon society. Just as with humans, being born in the right family and making the right friends can greatly affect your status in society. Even early relationships will be important in an individual's status latter on. Males have a tough time. They change troops throughout their lives, so they are always facing the challenge of finding acceptance.
Each male has his own way of integrating himself into the new society. Personality can be the deciding factor in a male's success. Some males are cool and calm and others are high strung and react to the slightest provocation. Sometimes they vent their anger on any individual that gets in their way. One male seems to pick fights with anyone. Aggression takes its toll on hyper active males regardless of whether they lose or win. Researchers have found that baboons that react so violently have high levels of stress hormones in their blood. The same association between violence and stress also occurs in people. Being aggressive isn't necessarily the best way to the top. A male that is calm is often more successful in the long run. One confident male fights only when he has to. When another male tries to take a female from him his action is prompt and effective.
The effects of stress are most evident when a group becomes over populated. Society breaks down and it's every primate for himself. It was shown Japanese macaques being fed as a tourist attraction. Unlimited food has enabled the population to increase way beyond its natural limitation. There are more than a thousand in the one troop alone. The normal size is about forty. For those monkeys living in an over crowded environment is very stressful. In the wild they would know every member of their troop. There that's impossible. One can end up being mugged in broad daylight and no one would come to its aide.
So how does a macaque cope living in a teeming mass of monkeys? They try to avoided confutations by avoiding each other and not looking each other in the eye. Every monkey feeds as fast as possible with its gaze firmly fixed on the ground. In order to survive life in such crowded situations monkey and people have the same solution. Limit close contact to a small group of family and friends. Individuals remain part of a wider group even though they don't know everyone in it.
After feeding for awhile the troop moves on and then, another troop takes its place. Another thousand monkeys stream down the hill. These enormous troops function as one unit, even if they are held together by little more than a common routine. Like the macaques, people have had to adapt to over crowded living conditions. Especially in urban areas. Today we live in groups far larger than our human ancestors
. Monkeys and humans do have a lot in common. But how do they compare when it comes to the subject of intelligence? We look in a mirror and see only ourselves. A monkey sees another monkey. No matter how long a mirror is left there it never recognizes its own image. Self recognition measures a special kind of intelligence. A sense of self. Most animals are not capable of this. But will a chimpanzee, our nearest relative, realize she is looking at her own image? At first the chimp's reaction is the same as the monkey's.. Brad and Trouble

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PBS Monkey in the Mirror note 4 of 6
She responses to the reflection as if it were another chimp. She threatens it. Invites it to play. But then, something extraordinary happens. It looks exactly like the process of self recognition in our own children. A child can not recognizes itself until it is about two years old. Then the process of discovery and exploration occurs just like they showed the female chimp's. Scientists also test this sense of self with the mark test. They mark the chimp's forehead with paint and then observe it in front of a mirror. Rusty has already been exposed to the mirror. But now the researchers want to see if he will connect the paint on his image with the paint on his own body. Since he has already seen what he normally looks like, Rusty senses that something is not quite right. He tries to remove the strange color on his forehead. This test proves that Rusty has a sense of looking at himself. This ability is only shared with the great apes and humans.
We all have a sense of self. If chimps have some understanding of who they are. Do they have the understanding of the minds of others? One chimp tries to follow the researchers gaze. But that always is not so unusual. The question is does he realize the researcher knows something because he is looking at it? Does he have any insight into what others might actually know? In one test a chimp has been trained to point to one person who will give her a cookie. But when given a choice will she know that only the person that sees her will know what she is doing and give her the cookie? The chimp does not catch on. Perhaps it is not enough to have your eyes covered. In another experiment a researcher hides another cookie. Cora has to pick one of two people to show her where it is. Will she realize that the man with a bucket over his head doesn't know where the cookie is hidden. Then both people then point to a cup. Cora has to choose who is right. Three year old children can not do this but four year olds can. Cora only gets it right sometimes.
Can a chimp understand someone's intentions? In another experiment Cora has to choose one of two people to give her orange juice. One spills the juice by accident. The other deliberately pours it on the floor. Now Cora has to choose. Does she understand nne has spilled it on purpose and the other by mistake? Once again she picks the right person. But in the end these test didn't prove that chimps can understand the intentions of others. But there is controversy, among scientist on the subject of just what the chimps knows about the minds of others.
In the wild chimps certainly behave as if they have some understanding of other's intentions. They appear to be scheming, political animals. Though it seemed calm in the chimp setting shown, there had just been a political cue. The old leader had just been thrown out and now those that have been waiting to take over must compete for the position. The heir apparent is Calunda. He is thirty five years old. But he has a rival in Saba, only nineteen, bigger and stronger. But you can't rule by brute force alone. You need to have supporters, a power base. Calunda has been cultivating his constituency for years. The younger Saba doesn't know how to play the game of politics. When Saba kills a monkey he keeps it to himself. Instead of sharing the meat with potential allies. But Saba's lack of political skills doesn't stop him from making the bid for the top. Shaking branches makes more of a scene and making him appear to be bigger and stronger. Brad and Trouble

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PBS Monkey in the Mirror note 5 of 6
Calunda and the others are not impressed. Calunda's allies now join together to show their support. Individually, Calunda and his friend would be no match for Saba. But together they prevail and chase him up a tree. He tries to make peace by grooming Calunda who now seems to be the new leader. But Saba may have a hidden agenda. He has changed his tactics and now tries to win over other members of the group. Playing with babies, grooming females and infants. But what he really needs is support from other males. He concentrates his attention on Jilba. He is not committed to the Calunda camp. His support may make all the difference in Saba's battle for power. But Saba's maneuvers have not gone unnoticed. Calunda and his followers try to break up this new alliance. It is not a game, any looser that backs the wrong male could be thrown out of the group. Saba's tactics have paid off. The other males switch their allegiance and he takes over as leader of the group. Calunda is defeated, at least for now.
There are many parallels between chimps and humans. Between their societies and our own. We use to think common chimps were our closes relatives. But there are other apes that maybe even closer. These rare primates can be found in only one place. Remote forests of central Zaire. Few people have ever seen them much less then study them. It is the Bonobo or Pygmy chimpanzee. Though the bonobos are called pygmy chimpanzees, that name is misleading. They are not just miniature versions of the common chimp. They are a separate species. They are not really smaller than them. They are slender with long arms and legs. Although they don't usually walk on two legs, they often stand upright to look around. their faces are much flatter than a common chimp's. Over all they have many similar features to our earliest human ancestors. But what strikes you most is their gaze, bold, direct.
Bonobos society is much more peaceful and harmonious than the common chimp. In contact to other primates, including humans, sexes mingle together with little tension. Friends can be male or female, young or old. Some groups are led by males or like the one shown by a mature female called Harub. She decides where they will go and how long they stay. Shown was six year old Shugene. He was orphaned at the age of three. If he were a common chimp he probably would not have survived unless he was lucky enough to be adopted by another female. In the relaxed bonobo society, several individuals have shared his upbringing, especially three adult males. With their help he survived and prospered. But there was trouble brewing in the placid scene shown. One male needs to let off a little steam. Upsetting the whole group.
Pygmy chimps use an unusual means to reduce tension, sex. As with humans, sex has become far more than a means of reproduction. And as for bonobos sex liberation has taken on new meaning. Participation in sex is a vital part of their society. They engage in sexual activity when they are nervous, excited or when they get up in the morning. They live peacefully in groups as large as one hundred. Unlike common chimps and humans, bonobos have never been seen to kill one of their own kind. Truly an ape that makes love not war. Among the primates, the pygmy chimps are perhaps the closest of all to ourselves. But just how far apart are we? Can they break that barrier which many feel clearly separates us from them? Can they use language? Brad and Trouble

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PBS Monkey in the Mirror note 6 of 6
Conzee is a bonobo living at Georgia State University. They show him having a picnic in the woods. When he was young he watched as scientists were trying to show his mother how to use language. Although she didn't master the skills the infant, Conzee, did. Bonobos can not produce the sounds of human speech. Even if they understand what we are saying they can't answer back. But Conzee has learned to use symbols on a keyboard. Each symbol represents a word. Conzee can match the symbols with the words that he hears. But does he understand what they mean? Does he understand what they mean when they are used in context?
During a test he was able to obey commands he has never heard before. He even seems to understand the most bazaar requests. Like putting pine needles in a refrigerator. Pour coke into the water. Take the vacuum cleaner out doors. Conzee has shown that apes have the intelligence to grasp the rudiments of language. But how do pygmy chimps communicate in the wild? Do they make use of any of these talents? Like us bonobos have a whole rapporteur of emotional noises. Similar to our yells and screams. They also have a range of more relaxed sounds, such as squeaking and grunting. They are far more vocal than any other great ape. We don't know what these noises mean, but it as if they are almost talking to each other. Could it be the don of language?
Chimpanzee share more than 98% of our genes. Surprisingly they are closer to us than they are to gorillas and orangutans. When researchers first began to study our primate relatives, many did so because they hoped it would provide some insight into the early stages of our evolution. Looking at the lives of monkeys and apes has cast new light on the origins of our behaviors and abilities. It has also changed the way we think of our primate relatives. We have learned a new respect for their mental capacities. Obviously we are the only primates that write symphonies and send rockets to the moon. But one by one the old barriers are crumbling. Apes can make and uses tools. They have the rudiments of culture. They seem to have a sense of self. In their own way, they are intelligent, sophisticated individuals and they hold a distant mirror to ourselves. Brad and Trouble

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i think monkeys are so great and cute and intellegent they are my favorite animals in the whole world
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