
Zoo chimp makes elaborate plots to attack humans - jamesbritt
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47363062/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/zoo-chimp-makes-elaborate-plots-attack-humans/
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binarymax
_And I would think that this is something that comes naturally to them when
performing their dominance displays. These are often aimed at making other
apes move out of the way and, in effect, accept him as the boss._

Or maybe he doesn't like being stuck in a cage and pointed at by countless
onlookers?

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aortega
"The calculated surprise attacks on visitors demonstrate very advanced
thinking usually only associated with humans."

It's more like very basic thinking usually only associated with human
toddlers. Articles like this tend to exaggerate animal intelligence to sell
more. But think about what humans (even human children!) are capable to do, we
really play in another league.

~~~
PhearTheCeal
But really, humans aren't that much smarter. If we didn't collect and teach
knowledge we've gained from the past then an adult wouldn't be too much better
off than a child. If this chimp was capable of passing on his knowledge to the
next generation, I think they would only be a few thousand years off from
where we are now.

~~~
PerryCox
>If we didn't collect and teach knowledge we've gained from the past then an
adult wouldn't be too much better off than a child.

And yet apes aren't able to do even that.

~~~
ithkuil
You might have a "potential capability" to do something, yet you could miss
some key aspect to actually do it.

For example there are a lot of people you have a big creative potential, yet
they are too lazy or lack of patience to actually do stuff for real.

What does that mean? Are those humans "capable" of achieving these feats? Or
the fact that they didn't actually do anything proves that they aren't?

Cognitive science doesn't seek to judge the value of individuals, that's
already our day job as social humans; we all do that constantly every day,
that's what we ever did, since the dawn of time, judge other human fellows to
praise the worth, and dispraise the villains; and of course we cannot refrain
from extending this attitude towards others, other communities, tribes, races;
let alone another species.

A scientific quest to discover the origin of our cognitive abilities has to
seek for similarities and not entrenching ourselves in our superiority in
achievement.

Of course, sometimes this might sound as if the claims are exaggerated, but
you should always read the conclusions in the right context. It reminds me of
somebody who told me "you know, Mayans were extremely advanced in astronomy",
I asked back whether they had developed an heliocentric view of planetary
motions, and he andwered "I told you, they were incredibly advanced!"; but
this doesn't mean that they had a heliocentric view; advanced w.r.t what? I
don't actually know, but I would be surprised if Maya had developed a
heliocentric view.

Being "advanced" in prediction of sun and star position doesn't mean more than
what it means, yet people tend to use some assertions out of context to state
things like "study demonstrates that apes are just like us" etc

PS: w.r.t to apes and teaching [http://www.livescience.com/7064-case-closed-
apes-culture.htm...](http://www.livescience.com/7064-case-closed-apes-
culture.html), and you can find a lot of data about how apes transmit behavior
(in some occasions also tool use etc)

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Produce
This could be taken as a surprise display of intelligence by a non-human
species or it could be interpreted as a testament to our arrogance in thinking
that we are so far above the rest of nature. Almost every attribute
traditionally thought to be uniquely human has been observed in other species.
I think that the lesson here is that our furry, four legged and submersible
co-habitants deserve more respect.

~~~
sopooneo
I don't know. Finding the exact line is hard, but you can easily define
uniquely human behavior.

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josefonseca
It is terrible to see these wild animals behaving just like civilized humans.

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Tomis02
Zoos are a barbaric tradition from darker ages, it's very surprising to me
that there aren't more outraged people that we keep animals against their will
in confined spaces just so that we have something to gawk at during weekends.
I understand efforts to preserve animals threatened by extinction, but this is
not the case.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoo#Surplus_animals>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoo#Condition_of_the_animals>

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pdx
Department of Homeland Security says that they're aware of the situation and
are monitoring it closely. They urge caution and suggest that travel to that
area should be avoided if possible, until the situation becomes more clear.

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mikek
Onionized headline:

'Asshole Chimp enjoys throwing rocks at unsuspeting onlookers'

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chris_wot
While that's pretty interesting, I think the next story was even better.
Apparently, thinking is impaired in humans when they absolutely _have to go_
to the toilet. Who would have thought it?

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nickkthequick
Planet of the apes! This is how it all starts. Swap out "chimpanzee" for
"human" and you get the reverse article monitoring Taylor's escape attempts.

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Mz
Yes, and "only humans use tools...blahblahblah".

Next, they will be teaching them sign language.

~~~
sebastianmck
They have! <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_(gorilla)>

~~~
Mz
I am seriously hoping that was intended as the punchline to my joke.

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moldbug
Robinson Jeffers, from "Original Sin," 1946:

The man-brained and man-handed ground-ape, physically

The most repulsive of all hot-blooded animals

Up to that time of the world: they had dug a pitfall

And caught a mammoth, but how could their sticks and stones

Reach the life in that hide? They danced around the pit, shrieking

With ape excitement, flinging sharp flints in vain, and the stench of their
bodies

Stained the white air of dawn; but presently one of them

Remembered the yellow dancer, wood-eating fire

That guards the cave-mouth: he ran and fetched him, and others

Gathered sticks at the wood’s edge; they made a blaze

And pushed it into the pit, and they fed it high, around the mired sides

Of their huge prey. They watched the long hairy trunk

Waver over the stifled trumpeting pain,

And they were happy...

<http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176425>

While it's hard to fault Jeffers in this judgment, I would nonetheless insist
that the chimpanzee is at least #2. Even gorillas are just plain vile. Last
month I took the kids to see the gorillas at the SF Zoo, and one female took
deadly aim at the audience with a pile of poo - missing, but barely. Perhaps
the entire primate clade is just a mistake.

~~~
grannyg00se
Gorillas are just plain vile? Compared to what?

You show children how we hold an animal captive for our own amusement and then
you take offense when the animal shows discontent.

