Orangs and Cognition
Phantom frugivores of the disappearing tropical forests of Sumatra and Borneo, orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) reveal their striking intelligence at the Zoo’s Think Tank exhibit. There, since 1995, scientist Rob Shumaker has worked with Zoo orangutans to examine how Asia’s largest primates can master language skills, use arabic numbers, and make judgments about quantity. Referring to the quantity judgment task, Shumaker says that the “…orangutans use a variety of cognitive skills to make... |
National Zoo Orangutan. (Jessie Cohen/ NZP)  |
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...the optimal choices, and their skills are comparable to adult humans.” Among the things learned by Zoo orangutans: how to choose smaller quantities of objects to receive larger rewards and how to communicate via symbolic language using touchscreen computers.
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ZooGoer 32(2) 2003.
Copyright 2003 Friends of the National Zoo.
All rights reserved.
