{"id":780477,"date":"2026-02-06T09:10:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T14:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=780477"},"modified":"2026-02-06T09:43:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T14:43:49","slug":"games-people-play-study-shows-humans-arent-the-only-species-that-can-pretend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=780477","title":{"rendered":"GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Study shows humans aren’t the only species that can pretend"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a set of experiments, a team of researchers offered a bonobo named Kanzi invisible juice and grapes, presenting the tests as something of a game, akin to a child\u2019s make-believe tea party. The results, show that Kanzi could play along. The primate could imagine and track invisible juice being poured between a pitcher and bottles. The experiments bolster evidence that apes can engage in cognitive processes in which the mind models multiple scenarios, including hypothetical ones \u2014 and carry out complex thought processes such as planning, reasoning, and inferring cause and effect.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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NBC NEWS:<\/strong> Can animals play pretend? It took a tea party with a bonobo to find out. In a set of experiments, a team of researchers offered a bonobo named Kanzi invisible juice and grapes, presenting the tests as something of a game, akin to a child\u2019s make-believe tea party.<\/em><\/p>\n

The results, published in the journal Science, show that Kanzi could play along. The researchers concluded that the primate could imagine and track invisible juice being poured between a pitcher and bottles.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s able to follow along and track the location of a pretend object, but at the same time, he appreciates that it\u2019s not actually there,\u201d said Chris Krupenye, an author of the study and an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the past, scientists had assumed that the ability to pretend and consider multiple realities was unique to humans. But then some other observations of primates behaving like they were pretending \u2014 young chimpanzees playing with a \u201clog doll\u201d or moving imaginary blocks \u2014 called that idea into question. The new study provides the first evidence of an animal pretending in a situation researchers could control.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe think of our ability to imagine other worlds or other objects, or imagine futures, as one of these rich features of human mental life that are presumed to be unique to our species,\u201d Krupenye said. But apes \u201cmight share some of the foundational cognitive machinery that will enable at least some degree of imagination”…<\/em><\/p>\n

The experiments together suggest that Kanzi was able to distinguish an imagined scenario from the present reality and keep both in mind.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c\u200b\u200bThat is really a very big step in our understanding of how nonhuman primates think,\u201d said Jan Engelmann, an associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the study.<\/em><\/p>\n

Engelmann said the experiments bolster evidence that apes can engage in \u201csecondary representations\u201d \u2014 cognitive processes in which the mind models multiple scenarios, including hypothetical ones \u2014 and carry out complex thought processes such as planning, reasoning, and inferring cause and effect…<\/em><\/p>\n

Kanzi, who died last year at 44, was a unique bonobo. Born in captivity, he was the first bonobo to understand some elements of spoken English. He learned the language by picking up on symbols representing words, called lexigrams, which he used to communicate with his caretakers. <\/em>EVAN BUSH<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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