This is an unusual post for me, but I hope you enjoy this Ted video where Susan Savage-Rumbaugh introduces the Bonobo ape. As a kid I used to read a lot of science fiction and one passage that has always stayed with me described a future earth where humans wandering through the forest saw chimps and monkeys making fires and using stone tools. Incredibly we see a lot of that and more from the Bonobo in this video.
Specifically:
- from about 5.45 using a lighter to make fire
- from 9.30 knocking two stones together to make a ‘knife’
- from 11.20 using chalk to write a symbol to say where she wants to go
- from 14.05 playing musical instruments
Quite amazing.
Thanks to Jof Arnold who pointed me towards this video at the end of a very stimulating lunch discussion yesterday.