Ape Genius

By watching the video “Ape Genius”, I had a better understanding of primate behaviors.

One thing that contributed to my understanding of primate behavior was all the experiments done

in the video. There were so many fascinating experiments done to show the intellectual abilities

apes poses. The experiment that really amazed me would be the experiment where the researcher

placed the ape in a small cage. In the cage there was a cup with a peanut inside it. There was also

a cup of water in a different area in the cage. The goal of this experiment was for the ape to get

the peanut. The ape tried several things to try and get the peanut out of the cup, then a little later

in the experiment he realized that he can use the water as a tool. The ape puts the cup of water in

the cup that had the peanut in it. The peanut floated to the top so the ape was able to get the

peanut. I thought the ape was genius to use the water as a tool. It would of personally taken me a

while to think of even trying to do that. The second experiment that I found fascinating is when

both an ape and a child were given a box and the researcher showed them exactly what to do to

get the candy. The ape watched the researcher and knew what to do and so did the child. Then

the researcher brought out a translucent box and did the same thing. The child copied exactly

what the researcher did, but on the other hand the ape skipped the extra steps and just took the

candy. I thought this experiment was really eye opening because I didn’t expect an ape to think

like that. The ape was smarter than the child because he knew the extra steps were necessary.

Given my new knowledge I think that primates could be the key to understanding early

human behaviors. There several things that make me think of early human behavior that the

primates did like using tools, imitating, caring for their child, having emotions and having a

culture. One thing that is argued about amongst scientists is whether primates can have culture.

Culture to me just means that you are able to learn from the people in your social groups and you
are able to pass it down to generations. In the article “Got Culture?” the author explained culture

as “a suite of tradition together”,(Stanford). Later in the article he also said “A culture can be

much simpler too. A group of toddlers in a daycare possess its own culture,”(Stanford). With the

author and my definition of culture, apes definitely do have culture in that case. Apes learn from

one another. “Learning through imitation is essential to culture,”(Rubin). They can collaborate

with one another to achieve a certain goal. They are compassionate to one another and they can

even interpret someone's actions as good or bad.

Work cited

Stanford, Craig. “Got Culture?”, Basic Books. Significant Others, 2001.

Rubin, John, “NOVA and National Geographic Television in association with John Rubin
Productions, Inc”. ; WGBH Boston. Ape Genius. Boston :WGBH Boston Video, 2008. Print.