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Kanzi , a male bonobo with advanced language aptitude , has died at the age of 44 fit in to astatementby the Ape Initiative , the conservation and research center in Des Moines , Iowa , where he had survive since 2004 .
As an infant , Kanzi , who was born at the Emory National Primate Research Center in Atlanta , Georgia , accompanied his adopted female parent Matata to language lessons . But while Matata was not concerned in learn from her human caretaker , Kanzi surprised them byquickly learning the lexigrams , or symbols that represent to quarrel , that the researchers were sample to learn his female parent , in much the same elbow room human children learn voice communication by listening to their parent talking .
Kanzi looking over his shoulder after a shower in 2005.
Primatologists have used lexigrams since the 1970s to understand how chimpanzees and pygmy chimpanzee guess and communicate . Using a special lexigram keyboard , the great apes are encouraged to communicate with their caretakers by pressing dissimilar button or pointing to pictures .
Researcherstaught Kanzimore than 300 lexigrams , and Kanzi combined them to create Modern meanings , an authoritative prospect ofsymbolic thinking — something which experts antecedently assumed only human were open of .
But Kanzi was also able-bodied to understand and respond to requests in spoken English . In astudyundertaken when Kanzi was 8 years honest-to-goodness , he and a 2 - year - old human child were give 660 spoken instructions . Kanzi outmatch the child , suggesting his linguistic ability was at least as good as a human bambino ’s .
Kanzi works with a lexigram board with a human caretaker in 2006.
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In anotherstudy , Kanzi learned some American Sign Language ( ASL ) just by find out video of Koko the Gorilla gorilla , who had previously been learn to habituate ASL . And when separate by a wall from his sister , Panbanisha , Kanzivocalized a phone for ' yogurt’that Panbanisha understood .
Although Kanzi showed one - of - a - kind lingual abilities for an imitator , he did n’t speak in the same manner humans do . Researchers think this is related to theanatomical differencesbetween chimpanzee and human vocal tracts . However , a 2024 written report publish inScientific Reportssuggests that chimpanzee vocalisation abilities may have been underestimated , as these ape can produce fresh speech sound and have the brain capacity necessary for speech .
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Beyond his language accomplishment , Kanzi demonstrate off his ability tomake and use stone tools , garner him the epithet " bonobo genius . " He was then learn tobuild a fire and cook food , present his power to learn behaviour key to human evolution .
Later in life , Kanzi was even instruct to play video games . He seemed to understand how to beat the arcade gamePac - Manand defeat the concluding boss ofMinecraft .
On March 18 , staff at the Ape Initiative found Kanzi unresponsive . He was being treat for heart disease , consort to the statement , but necropsy results clarifying his cause of death are pending .
Evolution quiz: Can you naturally select the correct answers?
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