Bonobo Understands Human Speech

Kanzi the Bonobo has the extraordinary ability to communicate in human terms. Researchers have worked with Kanzi and taught him 360 symbols to communicate with. Kanzi is believed to be different because unlike other apes who have been in ape language studies, he was not trained, rewarded or molded but instead observed symbols and listened and learned the language used by the researchers. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, a lead scientist at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa uses conversational context with Kanzi to test his language comprehension. For example, Savage-Rumbaugh will say “I put the book over there, can you go get it?” Remarkably, Kanzi will retrieve the book. More complex sentences such as “I put it over there, can you go get it but not the bottle” are used with Kanzi and he continues to illustrate that he understands (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bonobos/kanzi.html).

Researchers have also created about 45 tests to measure Kanzi’s length of attention, ability to chase a target and memory and perception skills. Kanzi has also demonstrated his comprehension of human speech while playing Ms. Pacman. For example, researchers will tell Kanzi the directions for the game and he will play the game just as a human would. This YouTube shows researcher Savage-Rumbaugh asking Kanzi to cut onions with a knife, put pine needles in a refrigerator, put salt in water, pour Coke in water and carry a TV outside. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dhc2zePJFE. It is amazing that apes cannot only understand language but some of them can express their thoughts and feelings by pointing to one of the hundreds of symbols on lexigram keyboards.

-Sarah Rohler