On Thu, 2 Feb 2006 23:15:16 +0000, Ashley Moran <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>This is the sort of thing I don't like to discuss with paleo- 
>sceptics, as it's a prime example of something that is easily  
>manipulated to make the whole diet look unsound.  But I've often  
>wondered if one of the reasons for our success as a species is that  
>our language lets us describe foods in exceptional detail.  We can  
>tell the difference between an edible mushroom and deadly one that  
>look almost identical.  On the other hand, I think chimps have been  
>observed using plants for medicinal purposes (eg flushing out  
>parasites), so perhaps we aren't that much more advanced after all.

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.

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.

--
Cheers,

Ken