You want that one?
My name is Sue Savage-Rumbaugh. I'm a scientist working at Great Ape Trust
And I'm interested in the cognitive development of bonobos, chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas actually
Humans
set themselves as a species apart from all other animals because we've constructed cities and we are
dominating the world, but if you look at the DNA you'll find we're very very closely related especially to chimpanzees and bonobos.
The Bonobos live only in the Congo, and they are very very endangered.
Although we've studied them since really
1972 we are beginning to understand the true social sexual complexity and the politics of
Bonobos and because their behavior is
so much like ours
but kind of like what we would be if we were open book and didn't wear any clothes and did whatever we felt like doing.
It's very important for us to understand bonobos.
We, humans, have placed a lot of very important human
restrictions upon ourselves to build the kind of societies that we've built but
inside we aren't always comfortable with those restrictions, so it's important to understand
what bonobos are like. They're probably our closest living relatives.
The question is what happened in terms of our evolutionary history and what happens in terms of a single lifetime
with regard to the development of cognitive skills
that enables human society to exist as it does as a part of the kind of society apes have in the wild.
Would you like to work that puzzle? You would?
The key element has proven to be abide species living environment. I suppose you might call it
an ethnographic approach. You have to learn how to be a good bonobo. [Tico's hiding under the table]
Because we can't produce the kinds of sounds they can which are *trying to pronounce*.
Very high range. And because I'm not nearly as competent at understanding their
language like communication as they are mine we use a board of symbols. [Is there something you're looking for, Kanzi?]
But we have over 400 lexigrams now.
[Is that the one?
You want those for your surprise?
Okay, let's see if we can do something to find where is surprise.]
There were
psychologists who tried to teach chimps to talk for a very long time and
they basically got to four or five words the chimps could say. "Mama",
and "Baba" and "Up"
but that was all and the speculation was that their vocal laryngeal tract is not like ours.
So you needed an alternative method. [Oh, what are you looking for, Tico? I like Tico]
Tico is Kanzi's first offspring.
I heard you say Tico, Kanzi. I heard you want him to come see you? You want Tico to go.
We're going to come see you in a minute. And he has taught me the
true value of love and caring because Tico almost died in my arms
many many times this last year. He came unprepared to be a bonobo and I came unprepared to teach him to be a human being.
But somehow together we found our way.
- How many hours you spend in here every day? - Hah, all day except when I'm with Gandhi or Manisha or taking him outdoors.
Tico is very different. Tico does not have the normal clinging
reflexes that other bonobo babies have. [Do you want to climb on the chair?] And because he doesn't have the clinging reflex
he can use his hands in a far more human-like way.
Yeah, stay on the shelf, please.
Because his brain isn't driven to just maintain that constant tense bodily contact.
Yeah
Microphone, don't take it out. The more we understand the importance of early rearing the more we can shake
humanity in the kind of direction that everyone feels we need to go toward. Peaceful, loving, caring
orientation toward each other that is within our grasp to do. [Big noise, ooh.
Isolates a big noise. I know that is. What do you want?]