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Talking with animals

There there are other stories here at the Science Centre about great apes "talking" to humans.

 

See if you can find them with the help of these clues:

 

• If you can see this you are quite close.
• If you can see this you are very close
• If you can see this it's behind you!

 

The exhibit you are looking for is called 'Talking with animals'. It has a video screen with six red buttons below it, and a poster above that looks like this. Once you have found the right place, have a quick look at the poster and try to answer these questions:

 

• What type of ape are the stories about?
• What are the names of the two apes that star in the stories?
• The news story was about orangutans using gestures to “talk" to people. What did the bonobos use to talk to people?

 

Now have a think about the next two questions using what you can see and what you already know: We'll come back to these questions later, so don't worry if you're not sure about your answers:

 

• Think of three ways in which bonobos are different from orangutans.
• Think of three ways in which bonobos are like orangutans.

 

Now settle down to watch some of the short film clips that tell the stories. First press the button for 'What is a bonobo ape?', watch the video and try to answer these questions:

 

• In which part of the world do wild bonobos live?
• Bonobos walk on two legs for long distances, we are told - just as humans do. The film uses two different words for walking on two legs. What are they?
• Besides walking on two legs, bonobos are like humans - or like our ancestors - in another important way. What is that?
• The scientists at Georgia State University study apes, but it isn't really apes they are interested in learning about. What is it?

 

Now press the button for 'Talking with lexigrams', watch this video and try to answer these questions:

 

• Kanzi learned to talk to people using lexigrams almost by accident. Who were the scientists trying to teach?
• Kanzi learned "by listening to what was said and observing what they did". Who else learns language in this way?
• All the talk between the orangutans and humans was about food. In the Science Centre story the bonobos often talk about food but not always. Find one other thing they talk about.
• How long does it take some adult humans to memorise the lexigrams?
• What do you think this tells us about apes' ability to learn language?

 

If you have time watch the other videos and see if you can find examples of these:

• using a tool - what was it?
• writing on the ground - what was the message?
• learning the rules of a computer game - how?

 

Now try to answer these questions again:

• Think of three ways in which bonobos are different from orangutans
• Think of three ways in which bonobos are like orangutans.

 

And finally have a go at these questions:

• Think of three ways in which great apes, such as bonobos and orangutans, are different from humans.
• Think of three ways in which great apes, such as bonobos and orangutans, are like humans.

   

  What does it all mean?

   

   

Find out more at GSC