Dan Shillito, State University of
New York, Albany
Note: This project is no longer going on at the Zoo.
The purpose of this research project is to explore orangutan self-awareness. Do orangutans recognize themselves? Do they understand that different people see the world in different ways? Those are the questions that this research is trying to answer.
Does an orangutan recognize itself in a mirror? If so, it must have a concept of self. Mirrors were used in studies at the National Zoological Park to test whether orangutans recognize themselves in mirrors. While some definitely do, others seem to treat their reflections as if they were other orangutans.
To study whether orangutans are capable of empathy, we need to be able to identify if an orangutan can use its own experiences to understand that different people view the world in different ways. For example, can an orangutan use its own experience of visual impairment with a blindfold to understand that another individual cannot see when he or she wears a blindfold? Human children don't begin to understand this simple concept until at least the age three or four. The results with the orangutans show that they do understand that other individuals are visually impaired when blindfolded.
Another way orangutan empathy is being studied is to determine
whether they can understand the goals and intentions of their
caretakers. To test this, a situation is set up in which an
orangutan sees a keeper trying to get an object placed just
out of reach. The orangutans have access to tools (long sticks)
that they previously have been able to use to get out-of-reach
objects. If the orangutan helps by giving the keeper a tool,
then the animal is obviously able to empathize with the keeper's
goals and intentions.
