Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

problem solving

Chimpanzee Problem Solving

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This is the story of Jody and the sheet. Jody was quite determined to untie this sheet from the fire hose and bring it in with her to make her evening nest.

It appeared to be an easy task at first – she quickly untied one end, but the second end proved more difficult because it was just a bit out of reach. She tried to climb the hose and untie the sheet at the same time, but, even with opposable toes, this did not work out.

She came up with a pretty brilliant solution.

Jody is not known for her athletic skills or her desire to solve puzzles, but when she wants something, she is one determined lady. It goes right along with our most recent e-news article about chimpanzee minds and bodies at work.

I think my favorite photo is #19. What’s yours?

Copycat

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Jamie loves to take part in the human activities at the sanctuary. When we do our closing rounds at night, Jamie insists on having her own pen and clipboard so she can take part. When we clean, Jamie will often begin to scrub a part of her enclosure. And when I am building or repairing something, Jamie will sometimes use her plastic tools to make some repairs of her own.

Yesterday, we began collecting samples for routine fecal exams. Jamie watched intently as I scooped up a sample in a special container. I could tell that she wanted to participate, but I couldn’t spare one of the special containers, so I gave her a tongue depressor on my way out the door. Later that day, when Jackie went in to spot clean the enclosure, she found that Jamie had used the tongue depressor to collect her own stool samples…into the head of a troll doll.

I often hear people say that a certain chimpanzee behavior is not a sign of intelligence because they are simply mimicking human behavior. But I’ve noticed that the chimpanzees that mimic human behavior the most are often the best problem solvers and tool users as well. This makes sense when you think about it. Children spend years mimicking the behavior of adults without understanding their goals or intent, but in doing so they gain valuable skills and learn patterns of behavior that will be important to them later in life.

Jamie is certainly capable of solving problems through a flash of insight. Sometimes you can almost see the wheels turning in her head while she runs through the possible solutions to her problem. But those possible solutions are only available to her because she spends so much time observing and mimicking the behavior of humans and other chimpanzees.

So I think that copying should be given the respect it deserves. We’ll see if the laboratory feels the same way when they receive their next stool sample in the head of a troll doll.

 

Jamie loves a challenge

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Many nonhuman animals have the ability to create and use tools. It’s easy to think of this behavior as simply a means to an end – a crow wants to retrieve a piece of food from a vertical tube, so she bends a piece of wire into a hook in order to pull the food out (if you weren’t aware that birds can create and use tools, you should check this out. We primates aren’t as special as we think we are).

But for humans, we know that tool use and problem solving are not always linked to a tangible goal. Why do we play chess or work on crossword puzzles? Why did I play the game Operation when I was a kid? For many people, activities that challenge our memories and problem-solving abilities, or test our dexterity and coordination, are considered fun.

What I find interesting about Jamie is not that she can find an appropriate tool, modify it if necessary, and manipulate it in order to achieve a goal that could not be achieved otherwise. What interests me is that this is Jamie’s idea of a good time. What we see in videos like the one below is a chimpanzee contemplating, deciding, planning, manipulating, straining, and struggling. For what? Not for the nut, at least not only for the nut. Jamie has a mind that goes looking for problems to solve. For her, it’s all about the challenge.