Charades is typically a word guessing game, it's a simple game of getting the point across without using spoken words. Charades is a very simple, and at times very frustrating game. When trying to communicate without using words one has to think about a gesture that will relate to the thought, but in real life we humans find ourselves acting out our words to aid with communication in every day life. And it's just us humans that act out their emotions by using our awesome, sick, crazy pantomiming skills right...right?
To say that humans are the only ones that can use charades is a false statement. Recent studies have found that orangutans can use pantomiming skills to get across their point. The test that the scientist held were simple ones. They gave the orangutans a treat and if they wanted another they would have to ask. As the scientist purposefully acted like they had no idea what the orangutan was trying to ask for the scientist noticed something shocking. As the signs that the apes were trying to use failed they would change their approach. They showed signs of intelligence by sticking with the signs that worked and fixing the ones that didn't until the orangutans got what they wanted. But even if a signal worked, sometimes the scientist would give them half a treat and it was up to the orangutan to ask for the full treat.
In a follow up article by discovery I found that they expressed more detailed means of expression. An orangutan Siti grabbed a coconut and a stick, now seeing humans break a coconut with a machete Siti did the same, but with a stick. She got a scientist attention and used a stick to act like she was breaking a coconut.
These articles were really something else, and in all honesty adorable just picturing myself playing charades with an orangutan. But as cute and surreal as it seems; this finding shows advancements in trying to find common grounds of communication with our ancestors and breaks the thought that apes cannot communicate on a human to ape capability level.
-Peter A. Lucas
That is really interesting. I wonder if studies have been done on any charade like form of communication among orangutans in the wild. In this study were the orangutans mimicking any behavior they had previously seen, or were they just discovering this charade communication?
ReplyDeletePosted by Sara Weaver
Awesome! We humans are always amazed when we observe human-like intelligence and learning in other animals, but some behaviors we attribute to our species are actually not that unique. I am also wondering if this behavior was seen in the wild or if it's only something that develops when orangutans are in contact with people.
ReplyDelete-Alex Sprague
I loved these articles…they really show the similarities between humans and orangutans. They demonstrate that these animals are capable of great flexibility in learning how to manipulate signals until finally finding the correct one. To go along with previous questions as to whether this occurs in the wild, I wonder if they have any signals that have consistent meaning and that are used repeatedly. Like the thumbs-up in the photo?!
ReplyDeletePosted by Katie Kalutkiewicz
Wow, that is so cool! I can't believe that the orangutans would not just get frustrated and become angry. I know many humans that would not be able to stick with charades to get a point across. The coconut and stick study was neat because the orangutan mimicked a behavior that it saw to ask for something. crossing the threshold to successfully communicate with other animals, ancestors or not, is a huge step in animal communication. I really liked this topic : )
ReplyDeletePosted by Amber Kapchinske
that is really cool and really interesting. Did they give any other examples of what actions worked or didn't? I mean, clearly the scientist knew what the orangutan was asking for all along, what made them deem one way of asking better than the next?
ReplyDeleteAwesome topic!
Leah Salloway
Haha thanks everyone. Yeah I thought it was pretty interesting too. The experiments were done in a fashion that they were trying to make the orangutans learn to adapt their signs and express exactly what they wanted and also to show that the orangutans do in fact know what they're doing. The funny thing about it is that the orangutans are the oldest of the apes i.e been around the longest so I was thinking if that has any relation and if any other apes do similar charades.
ReplyDelete-Peter A. Lucas