Remembrances of apes past: Chimpanzees and bonobos can recognize long-lost friends
Not long ago, comparative psychologist Christopher Krupenye and a colleague visited the Leipzig Zoo in Germany, where both had worked on a research project several years before. The 145-year-old zoo gets roughly 2 million visitors per year, and its bonobos are used to a parade of human faces passing their enclosure. But as Krupenye and his colleague approached, a male named Jasongo appeared to ...
Not long ago, comparative psychologist Christopher Krupenye and a colleague visited the Leipzig Zoo in Germany, where both had worked on a research project several years before.
The 145-year-old zoo gets roughly 2 million visitors per year, and its bonobos are used to a parade of human faces passing their enclosure. But as Krupenye and his colleague approached, a male named Jasongo appeared to recognize them from a distance. He came bounding over, his jaw extended in the open-mouthed facial expression bonobos make at play, emitting the laughter-like sounds of a happy ape.
"When you return, it really seems like they really remember you," said Krupenye, an assistant professor of psychological
