Stuck in a rut (Image: Cyril Ruoso / Minden Pictures / FLPA)
FOR all their cognitive prowess, chimps will never create steam engines, stone pyramids, or even a simple wheel.
That’s because they can’t latch onto new ways of doing things, says Andrew Whiten, a psychologist at the University of St Andrews, UK. Along with his colleagues, Whiten devised a simple test to show that unlike children, who instinctively adopt better methods for obtaining a reward, chimps will stick to their tried and tested techniques.
The researchers taught 11 young chimps to scoop out honey from inside a box by…
