I MET KANZI
by Dennis Combs
From September 1995 East Texas Mensa SpectruM

We arrived at the Yerkes Primate Research Center at about 9 a.m. and were greeted by Dr. Duane Rumbaugh, who gave us a brief overview and history of the center. He showed us several observation rooms and laboratory stations where the chimpanzee language studies take place.

The center's most prized chimpanzee is a Bonobo named Kanzi, who is unique to language- using chimpanzees in two ways. First, Kanzi apparently learned to use the Lexigram Keyboard (which uses symbols to represent words) by simply observing his mother during her training. Second, Kanzi refers to the lexigrams in ways that are different from conditioned responses. For example, Kanzi can refer to objects that he has played with hours afterward, thus implying learning. We saw Kanzi in his playroom and he was very happy to see us, although we did not communicate with him.

We did communicate with Kanzi's sister - Panpinisha. I got a chance to directly experience her ability to communicate when Panpinisha used the Lexigram board to ask for M & M's. She also wanted me to hide, and she used the Lexigram to point out where I was - behind a tree.

Methods used to teach chimpanzees are currently being used to help mentally retarded children to communicate using the lexigram board. So far it has been very successful.

There are many types of primates at the center from gorillas and orangutangs to spider monkeys all attempting to learn language. An addition to the primate center is the Sonny Carter Life Sciences Center which is conducting research with monkeys who play simulated computer games. The project is eventually aimed at sending the monkeys into space to perform activities that could be harmful to humans.

I played a few of the computer games and performed rather poorly. The monkeys have attained difficult level of performance. It is humbling to know that a monkey can do better than a human on a computer game. They knew they had won before the computer verified it, and would put their hand under the food reward chute to wait.

Kanzi has also been in the news lately because he has learned to chip stone flakes. Chimpanzees' wrists are too stiff to really whack the rocks together, and Kanzi couldn't match his trainer's motions. He figured out he could get sharp-edged flakes by throwing one stone against the other. He uses the sharp flakes to cut a tough string on a treat box.

We learned about other smart animals while we were at Yerkes. A parrot named Alex at NWU can name and identify 7 colors, 5 shapes , and count up to 6 objects. Alex can answer questions about his objects. A Marine World dolphin named Mr. Spock learned to get most of the fish rewarded for litter pickup duty at the dolphin pool. Mr. Spock collected litter all week and hid it under a platform. Then he would bring in the trash items one at a time to cash in his stash.