As we already know, on average, primates are more intelligent than other mammals, thanks to their larger brains among other aspects. Primates include humans too, considered the smartest of the lot. However, more and more studies are emerging to show just how intelligent non-human primates too are. Come, let’s find out more about this through a recent experiment.
Baboons are very intelligent creatures and through various experiments it has been ascertained that they can “decipher elements of language, understanding words in a sequence. This is in addition to having “highly complicated social grouping structures, deep empathy for one another and adaptability to the developing world around them”. So it makes sense they were used for a recent experiment on non-human primates.
French researchers worked with nearly 20 baboons raised at a primatology centre. In pairs, the primates were given the task of making the same choice when each was presented with a set of two images on touch screens. If both s in animals made the same choice, they were given a treat. The researchers discovered that in just three days, the baboons had come up with a system to and choose the same image even when they were not aware of what the other baboon had chosen, ruling out one imitating the other. Also, it was not a matter of colour-based choice because the baboons chose the same image even when they were presented with black-and-white ones.
This proved that baboons manage to develop social conventions to work together to Dice obtain a reward. Though earlier they had showed evidence of social conventions such as grooming, “this is the first to show a new behaviour appearing spontaneously in a group, without human intervention”. According to the study, “for a behaviour to be considered a social convention its benefit must apply to the whole group, it must work consistently, and it must be one among several solutions”. However, it remains a mystery how they do this.
Picture Credit : Google
