Chimpanzees are showing greater uptake in the attack on the people

"Santino", a male chimpanzee at the Zoo Furuvik in Sweden, is developing more and more complex plans for an attack on zoo visitors.

Initially, Santino has been known stone-throwing and other "shells" in the visitors, who irritated him. Now it improved their tactics, which requires immediate innovations for the future of deception. Researcher Mathias Osvet, lead author of the article about Santino in PLoS ONE, explains what a clever chimpanzee made:

"Immediately after the group left the visitors an overview of the region, Santino went to their main place to sleep and brought a big pile of hay, which he placed in front of the fence to the public. He then immediately placed under the pile of hay found the stones in advance," says Osvet.

"He's a precaution, placed behind a pile of shells, very invisibility of zoo visitors and staff. Then he sat down near the hay and waited patiently. When visitors returned, he waited until they drew level with a bunch of hay, and without any signs of anger or other emotions, he began to throw stones into the crowd. "

Calculating a sudden attack on the visitors shows only a very advanced way of thinking is usually associated only with humans. Osvet says, "It is interesting that he made these preparations, when the visitors were out of sight, and he also included the innovations in their behavior. And last but not least it is interesting that calculating the male chimps have not experienced any apparent feelings or emotions. It behave as either doing something more than once considered and tested in action. "

Researchers believe that the combination of previous experience with innovation "is a good indication of fairly sophisticated abilities of foresight in the chimpanzee."

After observing chimpanzees for many days, scientists also suspect that Santino is probably just "thinks it's fun" - annoying people. His attacks even seem to be intended for certain people who are likely to really act on his nerves. Attack the more successful, because Santino makes them completely in cold blood, behaving naturally - even a little sleepy - at the moment to throw a stone or other object.

Osvet further suggests that the phenomenon indicates a "one of the most difficult questions in science: as a question (in this case the brain) may be influenced by something that does not yet exist (prediction of the future). And it is not trivial."