Which Animals Use Tools?

Flash back to 1960. At that point in time the best definition of a human was a being with the ability to make tools. Man the tool-maker was considered to be different from animals in this regard. Dr. Jane Goodall was observing chimpanzees at Gombe National Park in Tanzania and saw two chimps strip the leaves off of small twigs and use them as tools to “fish” termites out of the ground to eat. This was the first time a non-human had ever been seen to create a tool and use it to accomplish a task.

http://tinyurl.com/h3gmkmj

What Are the Smartest Animals on the Planet?

Humans aside, chimpanzees would have to be at the the top of any consideration about relative intelligence of animals. They are most like us, sharing 99% of the same DNA, as we have have descended from the same ancestor species that lived 6-7 million years ago. 

http://tinyurl.com/h6x8lva

Animals Are Persons Too

How does a thing become a person? In December 2013, the lawyer Steven Wise showed the world how, with a little legal jujitsu, an animal can transition from a thing without rights to a person with legal protections. This Op-Doc video follows Mr. Wise on his path to filing the first-ever lawsuits in the United States demanding limited “personhood” rights for certain animals, on behalf of four captive chimpanzees in New York State.

http://tinyurl.com/kpveayt

-Igor Purlantov

Dolphins See the World The Same Way Humans Do

Dolphins see the world in a similar way to humans according to new research.  Despite living in such different environments, the study concluded that dolphins, humans and chimpanzees perceive the world "in fundamentally similar ways".  Researchers at the University of Kyoto in Japan carried out a study comparing the different animals.
http://tinyurl.com/n26ohfl

Chimpanzee Memory Study Suggests Apes' Short-Term Recall Better Than Humans'

Chimpanzees may have more smarts than humans, at least regarding short-term memories, new research suggests. A Japanese researcher presented a video showing the remarkable abilities of a chimpanzee named Ayumu, here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Thursday (Feb. 14). When the numbers 1 through 9 appeared randomly on a screen and then disappeared, the chimpanzee was able to recall the exact sequence and location of each number.

http://tinyurl.com/bcu6wvy

6 Things Animals Do Just Like Us

Being a human is a pretty sweet gig, all things considered. We've got opposable thumbs so dexterous they could start their own Cirque du Soleil troupe and brains so ripped our skulls can barely contain them. But before you grab your dog and give him a triumphant "IN YOUR (FAITHFUL, ADORABLE) FACE!" you should know that some of the traits and behaviors that make us human are also demonstrated by other animals. Animals that apparently think they're people.

http://tinyurl.com/3zycgmr