Christopher Krupenye Director of the JHU Social & Cognitive Origins group "Because apes live these deeply social lives full of important friendships and alliances, we naturally expected some evidence of rich, long-term memories of past social partners. Krupenye was conducting research at Zoo Leipzig in Germany when his colleague came back to visit for the first time in several years. They first gathered images of apes that had either left the zoo or died at least nine months prior. While the primates contentedly sipped away, a screen displayed side-by-side images of fellow apes, with only one of the apes known to the study participant. The research additionally highlights the profound similarities between chimpanzees, bonobos, and us humans—a truth that Krupenye says takes on heightened urgency given the threat posed to these endangered creatures by deforestation and hunting.
