Chimpanzees never cease to amaze us with their intelligence. It seems that these monkeys are not much different from people - they have mastered the computer, they can draw, and they are quite learning the language of the deaf and dumb. And recently it turned out that chimpanzees are the only animals in the world (other than humans) that are capable of inductive thinking.
Let me remind you that inductive thinking, or induction, is a process of logical inference based on the transition from a particular position to a general one. True, inductive inference connects particular premises with a conclusion not so much through the laws of logic as through some factual, psychological or mathematical representations.
A typical example of an inductive design is as follows: all the planets we know revolve around their stars. From this we can conclude that any planet in the Universe (even if not yet known) will revolve around its native star. That is, on the basis of observation of particular cases, we have derived a general pattern.
And just recently, American scientists found out that this method of inference is familiar to the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). A series of experiments helped investigate this. At first, biologists acted like this: a hungry monkey was shown two boards. One lay flat on the table, the other was tilted. Chimpanzees, who first encountered the task, looked first of all under the inclined board, because there the hidden treat could be found immediately, and the board lying flat still had to be raised first.
The researchers then complicated the experiment. All 12 participants in the experiment, already familiar with this system, were also offered the role of observers. Before their eyes, behind a transparent partition, the experimenters put food both under an inclined board and in a special depression on the table, which was tightly covered with another board, so that it lay flat. Then the events developed according to one of two scenarios.
If the chimpanzee, regardless of whether he saw how the experimenters pledged food or not, had to choose first, then he still looked first under the inclined board. But if the monkey saw that her brother was first allowed into the room, then in most cases she would immediately go to the flat-lying board and get the top dressing from under it.
These results can be explained by assuming that the monkey understands that if one of its relatives enters the room first, he will first look under the inclined board and eat everything edible. Therefore, looking for food there is already pointless and you can immediately head to another - most likely, not yet ruined - cache of food. As a result, after a while, all the participants in the experiment began to implement the second scenario, if they saw that someone had already entered the room in front of them (while sometimes the observer did not even see whether the previous participant had taken out food from under the inclined board or not).
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A similar experiment proved that chimpanzees can build general patterns based on private observations. This discovery puzzled researchers, since such thinking is fundamental to any intelligent activity. This means that chimpanzees also possess the rudiments of intelligent thinking, which theoretically could develop them to the human level. However, this did not happen in the course of evolution.
The point here, apparently, is this. It is known that chimpanzees are the closest relatives of humans from living primates - this is at least proven by the fact that the DNA of Homo sapiens and Pan troglodytes is 98.7 percent identical. According to the results of molecular studies, the evolutionary paths of humans and chimpanzees diverged only six million years ago. That is, for people, chimpanzees are not a direct ancestor, but rather a great-uncle. However, the divergence of these species most likely occurred at a time when our common ancestors with chimpanzees already possessed the rudiments of intelligent thinking.
Apparently, the ancestors of chimpanzees remained inhabited on the border of African forests and savannahs. This environment is very rich in food, and most importantly, it always assumes the presence of a backup option - if food runs out in the forest, you can look for it in the savanna, and vice versa. It turns out that these monkeys did not face the problem of hunger. As a result, they did not strain their brains very often about what methods to get food in if it suddenly became scarce. In other words, they did not have any serious incentives to further develop intelligent thinking.
The ancestors of humans, having moved from forests to savannahs, faced the problem of lack of food. Therefore, in order to survive, they had to invent new ways to get it. And this, as we understand, greatly stimulates the development of intelligent thinking. As a result, natural selection left only those who became "smarter" the chance to reproduce. All others were ruthlessly culled, that is, they were dying of hunger, leaving no descendants.
As a result, humans became intelligent, but chimpanzees did not. By the way, it is possible that it was the ancestors of chimpanzees who competitively ousted our ancestors into the savannahs - it is known that these monkeys can form numerous flocks (up to 150 individuals), are very strong and very aggressive. That is, if we follow this hypothesis, we have become intelligent because once upon a time, ancient chimpanzees drove our ancestors out of places rich in food. Then they did not even suspect that they did it to themselves on the mountain. Because in the future, a person who became reasonable took revenge on their descendants by exterminating these cute monkeys in more than half of the territory of their natural range.
Nevertheless, the rudiments of intelligent activity remained in chimpanzees - it is known that these primates can even make and use primitive tools. For example, when hunting the night monkey galago (Galago senegalensis), chimpanzees use self-made spears made from sharpened tree branches. But after the tool has been used, the chimpanzee will most often throw it away - the abundance of food makes the constant use of these items unnecessary, as well as the transfer of the secrets of its manufacture to descendants. In other words, under certain circumstances chimpanzees can act intelligently, but this has not become a habit with them.
People have observed cases of inductive thinking in these monkeys before. For example, the French captain Granpre in the 18th century said that the chimpanzee who lived in the galley of his ship, watching the cook, learned to light the stove himself. Moreover, he did this only when the cook came to the galley and without any request from the latter.
And the chimpanzee who lived at the house of the great French scientist Buffon, observing the guests, learned to eat with a knife and fork. At the same time, he clearly knew in what situation which device had to be used. Buffon wrote that his pet was never trapped while sitting at the table, although he was served a variety of dishes. So here, apparently, it was not without induction.
Interestingly, from this study, people would also benefit from drawing appropriate conclusions. They consist in the fact that the innate presence of intelligent thinking does not at all mean that its carrier will necessarily be intelligent. For this to happen, thinking needs to be constantly trained and developed. Otherwise, it won't be long to become like a chimpanzee …
ANTON EVSEEV