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[Carrie McLaren <temporary181 AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

ABC News
Hello, How Are You Doing?
Groundbreaking Research Has Scientists Talking With Apes
By JOHN BERMAN

Video Available at:
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Story?id=3222942&page=1

May 29, 2007 -

The Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa, is home 
to seven bonobos -- a close relative of the 
chimpanzee -- and three orangutans. But if you 
think Iowa might be a strange place for them to 
live, don't say it out loud & these apes 
understand English.

Really. No kidding.

You can talk to the apes, and they know what you are saying.

The residents of the Great Ape Trust are part of 
groundbreaking language research where the apes 
are being taught to communicate with humans by 
pressing 350 lexigrams -- symbols that appear on 
a screen and represent thoughts and objects.

The superstar is 26-year-old Kanzi, whom Bill 
Fields has been working with for years. To 
communicate, Fields speaks to Kanzi, who then 
points to the lexigrams to respond and 
demonstrate a level of understanding.

"Qualitatively, there is no difference between 
Kanzi's language and my language," Fields said. 
"It's a matter of degree."

The key to ensuring they grasp the language, the 
researchers said, is to start teaching them when 
they are young, just like you would with human 
babies.

"Language is culturally acquired. Its not 
learned," said Fields. "It's acquired in the 
immediate postnatal antogyny of the organisms 
life. The only organism capable of learning 
language are babies."

They've been communicating with bonobos through 
the keyboard for almost three years, relying on a 
technique developed in 1971 and also used at the 
Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University 
and other facilities.

At the Great Ape Trust, researchers said the apes 
would likely never be able to vocalize words like 
humans; they are limited by the range of their 
vocal chords among other things.

However, Fields swears he has heard Kanzi try to say "thank you."

'Surprise' From an Interview With an Ape

When they begin to work with the apes, some pick 
up the vocabulary quickly while others never 
acquire the language.

Rob Shumaker has known Azy, a majestic, huge male 
orangutan, for more than 20 years. He talks to 
Azy, just like he would speak to one of his 
children, or a longtime friend.

"When I'm around them we just kind of talk 
normally," he explained. "I use my normal 
vocabulary, my normal voice my normal gestures."

Sound beyond belief? During a visit to the Great 
Ape Trust, I sat down with Kanzi the Bonobo -- 
the first Ape I have ever interviewed.

I read Kanzi a series of words, and then without 
fail, he hit the corresponding lexigram symbol on 
a touch screen.

I said "Egg."

He pressed "Egg."

I said, "M and M."

He pressed "M and M."

Then Kanzi took control of the conversation and 
pressed the symbol for "Surprise!"

Needless to say, I was quite surprised, having 
never actually spoken to an ape before.

But Kanzi was pointing to a box of candy that I 
was sitting near. That is the surprise that he 
wanted.

Moments like this are proof that these 
conversations help scientists learn about apes, 
from the apes themselves.

"If we have some common means of communicating 
with each other," said Shumaker , " we suddenly 
have exponentially large number of topics that we 
can explore."

"It allows Kanzi to tell me if his stomach hurts, 
his head hurts or if he'd like to be alone or if 
he's afraid or scared," Fields added.

Speaking Up for Their Survival

There's another possible impact of the 
communication with these apes: These celebrity 
apes may help raise awareness of the plight of 
apes in the wild.

Shumaker said there is an estimated 10,000 to 
50,000 bonobos left in the wild, and 50 - 55,000 
orangutans in the wild, so raising awareness of 
just how smart these creatures are might 
encourage the public to take their problems more 
seriously.

"The research we conduct here powerfully informs 
people about the nature of great ape 
intelligence," Shumaker said. "We know that 
humans and great apes share far more than they 
differ. I think we have to recognize that. If 
that does not compel us to preserve great apes in 
the wild, I don't know what can."

The insight into ape learning might also give 
some insight into human development.

"It tells us about how we learn everything," said 
Fields, "what the antecedents are to the kind of 
powerful learning that could occur in humans."

Sometimes the similarities to humans are 
downright eerie. When I asked Kanzi if he wanted 
coffee, he enthusiastically shook his head up and 
down.

Bonobos share 98 percent of their DNA with humans 
-- they also apparently share a love of decaf 
caramel machiatos.

For more information contact the www.greatapetrust.org.

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