It has long been known that apes can plan ahead and consider the beliefs of other individuals, but no reproducible evidence ...

Humans are not the only species to combine concepts to build more complex meaning, a new study found. Bonobo chimpanzees combine calls in a manner similar to how humans structure words to make phrases ...

The ability to imagine — to play pretend — has long been thought to be unique to humans. A new study suggests one of our closest living relatives can do it too.

Discover how an ape playing tea party teaches us humans are not the only beings with complex mental lives.

A bonobo named Kanzi surprised scientists by successfully playing along in pretend tea party experiments, tracking imaginary juice and grapes as if they were real. He consistently pointed to the ...

Past anecdotal observations have hinted that great apes play pretend. But now, experimental research shows that our closest living relatives can keep track of imaginary objects.

Remember childhood tea parties? The cups are empty, the teapot is dry, yet the air is thick with the drama of imagined ...

Humans aren't the only species that can pretend, a study shows. Scientists offered a bonobo imaginary juice and grapes in a ...

Juvenile bonobo embraces a distressed companion during post-conflict consolation. Psychologists from Durham University, UK, observed the behaviour of 90 sanctuary-living apes to establish whether ...

Amalia Bastos first met Kanzi the bonobo in 2023. Bastos was “starstruck,” she recalls: Kanzi was famous for learning how to ...

We don’t just have sex to reproduce - new research suggests that using sex to manage social tension could be a trait that existed in the common ancestor of humans and apes six million years ago.