Bonobos...Writing Apes

[Fred]

I know this is a place for monkeys, but I'd like to know what you other sapiens think about the Bonobos.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/76

[jespah]

I could only get through about 1/4 of that video but it's very interesting (perhaps when I have more time, I'll watch the remainder). Who knew that bonobos had something on their minds other than sex?

[Space Monkey]

It's amazing... not unexpected, but simply amazing.

Michael Crichton based much of his Gorilla character named Amy in his book "Congo" studies like this in regards to sign language etc. She paints pictures about her memories and dreams while also communicating her emotions to her human family.

My brother's dog communicates with a little sneezing because he was born in Fall and grew up through Winter. He saw us sneezing all the time and must have thought that's how we communicate. It's funny to watch him tell us he is hungry. He fawns, does some anxious stretching, crouches into a pounce like stance remembers not to jump on people, and then he sneezes at us intermixed with a few pleading growls and whines. No, he doesn't have a sinus problem either. lol

We find this often in Fiction. Real ideas are entertained and fleshed out in it to tell a unreal story and then along comes a study like this about Bonobos picking up more than sign language and learning obedience that turns fiction into reality. Often we hear people say that animals don't have souls or feel like humans do, but I think that's because people don't want to wrap their minds around it and also it makes them feel less special.

If anything, I think it makes me feel even more special to be able to witness the miracles of all of this here life interacting as we turn on this rock not so far from our life giving star. I'd volunteer to sit down with 1000 of them and collaborate on a creative piece typing more than Shakespeare. lol