Chimpanzee confirms planning ability of animals: Study

Stockholm, March 10: According to a Swedish study, apes have the ability to plan for the future just like the humans have. This was confirmed after an angry chimpanzee, Santino, threw stones at the visitors at Sweden's Furuvik Zoo.

This aggressive behavior by the ape left both the visitors and keepers of the Furuvik Zoo shocked. But the incident caught the attention of researchers due to the fact that it was carefully organized.

As per a report that appears in the journal Current Biology, the 31-year-old chimpanzee began piling up weapons, mainly rocks, in the morning prior to the opening of the zoo. He hung on till midday after which he unleashed a “hailstorm” of rocks on the visitors.

Mathias Osvath, report author and Ph.D. student at Lund University, said, “These observations convincingly show that our fellow apes do consider the future in a very complex way. It implies that they have a highly developed consciousness, including lifelike mental simulations of potential events.”

Osvath’s conclusions were centered on his own observations of the ape and interactions with three senior caretakers who had closely watched Santino’s behavior for around 10 years at the zoo.

Interestingly, Santino did not attack other chimpanzees but aimed only at humans. Fortunately, his poor aim meant that no one was seriously injured, said Osvath.

Another thing that deserves a mention is that the chimpanzee was seen tapping on concrete boulders in the park to separate out the weaker parts.

Osvath remarked, “It is very special that he first realizes that he can make these and then plans on how to use them. This is more complex than what has been showed before.”

Santino was calm while organizing his weapons but hurled them at the visitors only when extremely angry. This shows that the planning behavior was not triggered by an immediate emotional drive.

The ape’s aggressive behavior compelled the zoo keepers to castrate him in autumn last year.

Osvath remarked, “It is normal behavior for alpha males to want to influence their surroundings…It is extremely frustrating for him that there are people out of his reach who are pointing at him and laughing. It cannot be good to be so furious all the time.”