Chris Krupenya

in those tasks point to indicate their comprehension and to indicate where they think this imaginary object remains.

And so with Konzi, we were able to do more or less the exact same thing.

And on the table, the partner would put two empty transparent cups.

And then the partner would take one of the cups and, you know, dump it back out into the pitcher.

And at that point, there's only one bit of imaginary juice left in the remaining cup.

And the partner pushed the table forward and asked Kanzi.

Our findings suggest that Kanzi was able to, in his mind, sort of entertain two versions of reality.

On the one hand, he sees two empty cups in front of him.

He knows that they're empty.

This ability to sort of go beyond the present, go beyond reality in your mind, is a sort of remarkable cognitive feat.

And it tells us, for one, that very likely that capacity, those roots of our imagination were present millions of years ago in the common ancestors that we shared with bonobos.

And I think it also tells us that there's just much more interesting mental life out there in the world than we previously thought.

Yeah, so it is true that this study only had one individual.

And what we can say from it depends a little bit on what your questions are.

So one question you might have is, is this form of imagination unique to humans?

And I think for that question, all you need is one clear demonstration to say, no, it's not unique to humans.

Now, the broader question might be, is it the case that all other apes share this capacity too, or at least all other members of his species, bonobos?

And here, I think that is an empirical question where we do need

more research.

Young female chimpanzees have been observed carrying around sticks or logs in ways that look like they're treating them like a doll or a baby.