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Orangutans: Just
Hangin' On Home
The Red Ape | Saving
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ORANGUTAN
I.Q.
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Azy, an ape who can communicate.
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Like other primates, orangutans exhibit humanlike qualities -- from careful
parenting to the use of tools. But how do their
thought processes work? Are orangutans capable of cognitively figuring
out complex problems? To find out, Washington DC's National Zoo has set
up the Think Tank, a research center where
orangutans do everything from solve puzzles to operate computers -- tasks
usually left to scientists. Rob Shumaker coordinates the Think Tank's
Orangutan Language Project, featured on the NATURE program. There, he
teaches orangutans a language based on symbols to find out how they think.
Once the orangutans have learned how the symbols work, scientists reason,
the apes may start to put them in an order that signifies meaning.
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Indah figures out how to
open a box.
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Azy, an adult male, knows seven different symbols. Shumaker and his colleagues
also investigate how well these apes resolve complicated problems, such
as retrieving food from locked containers.
Azy and Indah, a female also featured on NATURE, must figure out the
best way to get a delicious-smelling peach out from a box shut tight
with a variety of clasps. After some initial pummeling, both orangutans
stopped bashing the boxes and used their hands, feet, and prior experience
to get the clasps open, reasoning out the solution the same way humans
do.
Orangutans:
Just Hangin' On Home
The Red Ape
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