Chimpanzees

I found this article at nytimes.com. I love what scientist is figuring out about animals. It is truly amazing how uniquely different we are compared to animals, but it is even more intriguing to see our similarities in the way we speak.(Krak krak! Means “Watch out, a leopard!)(Hok hok hok! Means, Hey, crowned eagle!)At the Tai National Park in Ivory Coast scientist are exploring the realms of nature with a monkey! The adult males have six types of calls; all of them have a specific different meaning. They can also connect two or more calls together into a message with a different meaning. The scientist spent months recording the calls in response to both natural and artificial stimuli. A group led by Klaus Zuberbuhler from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland argues that the Cambell’s monkeys have a primitive form of syntax.

“This is likely to be a controversial claim because despite extensive efforts to teach chimpanzees language, the subjects showed little or no ability to combine the sounds they learned into a sentence with a larger meaning. Syntax, basic to the structure of language, seemed be a uniquely human faculty.”

My first reaction was being confused. I wasn’t sure if the scientist were trying to teach the monkeys to speak our way, or if they were trying to understand how the monkeys talked to each other. Well, it turned out to be both, teaching them and learning from them. The “boob-boob” call invites other monkeys to come toward the male making the sound. Two booms can e combined with a series of the “krak-oos,” with a meaning entirely different to that of either of its components. “Boom boom Krak-oo krak-oo krak-oo” is the monkey’s version of “Timber!”- It warns of falling trees.

I thought that this was an amazement to find out how the Cambell monkey speaks. It would take a lot of time and patients for someone to try and learn from a monkey. This would be a fun job; I believe I would actually learn a lot from working with monkeys. I love animals they are so unique and innocent. I don’t know what else I would do for a living than helping to helpless. Monkeys are so smart and kind, they are gentle enough that understand how your feeling. If your dog can tell that you’re upset, why wouldn’t a monkey be able to?

In conclusion, I absolutely loved this article, I love learning more about animals. They are so fascinating to me, and your knowledge of them can never run out of space. There are so many creatures that are not seen and not even heard of. How could researching animals be boring?? My biggest passion with animals are birds, I absolutely adore birds. Although I am up to research and learn more about any type of animal. This article was an interesting pick, not very many people like hearing about what “Boom boom, Krak-oo krak-oo krak-oo” means. But I do, and I think it is just fascinating.