http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5503685

My linguistics prof. would not be surprize. He spent all year trying to convince us that language is hard-wired into the brain.

Wow. That is awesome. Understanding the can, the use of the metaphor, and the story about the finger shows that other animals really are a hell of a lot more intelligent than many will give them credit for.

...shows that other animals really are a hell of a lot more intelligent than many will give them credit for.

 

Yet sadly, wild bonobos are being driven into extinction.

Yet sadly, wild bonobos are being driven into extinction.

 

Even more sad is that they are quite possibly our closest cousin (closer than the chimp (though I know there is a bit of a dispute about this))

 

Bascule, I just had an epiphany. A project for you and I.

 

Arm the bonobos?

Even more sad is that they are quite possibly our closest cousin (closer than the chimp (though I know there is a bit of a dispute about this))

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Bonobos are the only species like humans that engage in sex for recreation, unlike chimps.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Bonobos are the only species like humans that engage in sex for recreation, unlike chimps.

 

Yes, in bonobos the women rule and they base their hierarchy and politics in sexual activity among the females.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Bonobos are the only species like humans that engage in sex for recreation, unlike chimps.

Well, dolphins do as well, but yes, bonobos are prolifically promiscuous, far more than humans even. And what's more, they're all sexual "deviants." Sex is a social lubricant keeping emotions cool and holding the troop together in place of the aggressive interactions of common chimps. Female to female, male to male, oral sex, incest, and all members of the tribe partake, from infancy to elderhood. I have read that the only real taboo is that males stop... "playing" with their moms when they hit young adulthood. Anyway, I wouldn't say the females really "rule" in the same sense that a warlord among chimps rules his troop. There is some social stratification and ranking, and females are higher up, but it's pretty lax, especially when food's easily available.

 

I've always looked at bonobos as the hippy extreme, chimps as the 'militaristic' extreme, and humans as the middle-ground

Wildly off-topic discussion split.

Bonobos aren't the only species that's more integent than we expected.

To obtain out-of-reach food, the crow repeatedly took a piece of straight wire and bent it to create a hook. According to the researchers, who report their findings in the August 9, 2002 issue of Science, this behavior suggests that New Caledonian crows "rival nonhuman primates in tool-related cognitive capabilities."

 

Tool makers with tiny brains!