On Feb 04, 2006, at 2:36 am, Ken Stuart wrote:

> Chimps have been shown to have words for various foods - I've seen  
> a video of a
> chimp selecting the picture of a food, after hearing a recording of  
> another
> chimp saying their word for that food (this sound was recorded when  
> that chimp
> was given that particular food).    For example, a chimp was given  
> grapes and
> made a sound which was recorded.   When the sound was later played  
> back to
> another chimp, he selected the picture of grapes from among many  
> pictures.

That's interesting.  I've heard of apes being taught to understand  
some human words but I didn't realise they naturally used them  
themselves.  I often wonder if the birds in my garden are talking to  
each other.  They seem extremely organised*.  My mum has become  
something of an expert in bird sociology watching them in the garden  
when she's in the kitchen.  I struggle to believe the huge range of  
sounds they make don't carry some meaning.

> Remember chimps have over 99% of our DNA, and are considered to be  
> more similar
> to humans than they are to other primates or apes.

One thing that really, really, REALLY winds me up is people talking  
about how advanced and civilised we are.  In a conversation at work  
about breast feeding, I mentioned that many traditional societies  
still nurse their children to some extent to the age of 6 or 7, and  
that this fits the pattern of other mammals that nurse until the  
child has its adult teeth.  The reaction was "I like how you group us  
with the 'mammals'.  I'd like to think we're a bit more civilised  
than that."  It makes me mad because people think they can  
selectively dismiss anything to do with natural harmony based on the  
fact that we are somehow superior and no longer have to follow the  
rules.  Well, we CAN ignore the rules if we want, but look at what  
happens when we DO.


Ashley


* Maybe Chicken Run was actually a documentary