When I was in college I took a course in which we learned about the process of human infants' development of their perception of the world around them. If you roll a ball under the sofa where it can't be seen, a very young infant believes that the ball has ceased to exist and loses interest in it. It's a significant step in development when the infant continues to search for the ball, implying an understanding that the ball continues to exist, even though he/she can't see it. I wonder if the Orangutan really appreciates the trick of the "disappearing" fruit. If so, that ought to allow us to correlate the ape's degree of mental development with a human child's.
Very beautiful to look at, though I'm not sure if the orangutan actually got that it was a magic trick, or simply did one of the mannerism he aped form watching humans which gave him a reaction form humans in the crowd.
If you want some real fun with imprisoned zoo primates, take a toddler to the zoo and let it run around in front of the window, preferably as near-naked as possible, so the apes can see it is a tiny human, not just a short bunch of clothes. Eventually the toddler will fall over and begin crying.
Some apes will try to comfort it, some will retreat from the noise, some will try to avoid looking guilty, some will laugh.
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11 comments:
When I was in college I took a course in which we learned about the process of human infants' development of their perception of the world around them. If you roll a ball under the sofa where it can't be seen, a very young infant believes that the ball has ceased to exist and loses interest in it. It's a significant step in development when the infant continues to search for the ball, implying an understanding that the ball continues to exist, even though he/she can't see it. I wonder if the Orangutan really appreciates the trick of the "disappearing" fruit. If so, that ought to allow us to correlate the ape's degree of mental development with a human child's.
Not EVERYBODY.
If you're having trouble seeing the video, it/they are here:
http://cdn.theguardian.tv/mainwebsite/2015/12/09/151209MonkeyUPDATE_desk.mp4
http://cdn.theguardian.tv/3gp/large/2015/12/09/151209MonkeyUPDATE_large.3gp
http://cdn.theguardian.tv/3gp/small/2015/12/09/151209MonkeyUPDATE_small.3gp
http://cdn.theguardian.tv/webM/2015/12/09/151209MonkeyUPDATE_synd_768k_vp8.webm
Made me think of Trump and the electorate.
"Trump on top by 19 points" written at the bottom the cup.
I loved this video! Thanks for posting.
Very beautiful to look at, though I'm not sure if the orangutan actually got that it was a magic trick, or simply did one of the mannerism he aped form watching humans which gave him a reaction form humans in the crowd.
That made me and my kids so happy.
garage is still trying to figure out how that damn thing disappeared from the cup.
If you want some real fun with imprisoned zoo primates, take a toddler to the zoo and let it run around in front of the window, preferably as near-naked as possible, so the apes can see it is a tiny human, not just a short bunch of clothes. Eventually the toddler will fall over and begin crying.
Some apes will try to comfort it, some will retreat from the noise, some will try to avoid looking guilty, some will laugh.
Just like us.
"Some apes will try to comfort it, some will retreat from the noise, some will try to avoid looking guilty, some will laugh."
How often do you do this, mikee?
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