Abang was an
orangutan
Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...
taught to make
stone tool
Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a ...
s, as a part of a
research experiment to determine if this ability is a characteristic unique to
human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...
s, the genus
Homo
''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively called ...
, or to the family
Hominidae
The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic Family (biology), family of primates that includes eight Neontology#Extant taxa versus extinct taxa, extant species in four Genus, genera: ''Orangutan ...
.
[
]
Early life
Abang was illegally captured in
Sarawak
Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...
when he was about a year old. After being confiscated by authorities, he was taken with a female, Dayang, to England in 1967 and kept in
Bristol Zoo
Bristol Zoo was a zoo in the city of Bristol in South West England. The zoo's stated mission was to "maintain and defend" biodiversity through breeding endangered species, conserving threatened species and habitats and promoting a wider underst ...
.
Experiment
Aim and setup
The aim of the experiment was to teach an
ape
Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found global ...
subject, through
imitative learning
Imitative learning is a type of social learning whereby new behaviors are acquired via imitation. Imitation aids in communication, social interaction, and the ability to modulate one's emotions to account for the emotions of others, and is "esse ...
, to use a stone to hammer a flake from a flint and use this flake as a tool to open a box. The experiment was divided into two stages where the subject was given demonstrations and then given the opportunity to do the activity themselves. The aim of the first stage was to get an ape to cut a cord to open a box, using a pre-made flake. The second stage's aim was for the ape to make their own flakes and open the box with them. The demonstration and attempts were done with a sheet aluminium box. A mesh window made the food visible. The box had a lid secured by a cord inside the box, with the cord accessible via a slot.
Timeline
The experiment started in 1971. The experimental sessions were conducted in an indoor part of the ape's cage, initially with both Abang and Dayang present. After they proved to be a distraction to each other, only Abang was used as a subject. Stage I was conducted in four sessions from March 5 to March 19 with success observed at the end of the second session. Stage II was conducted in seven sessions from March 23 to April 16, with success observed in the sixth session.
Conclusion
In the opinion of the researcher, while the experiment showed, “… a case of imitative learning it would be misleading to think of Abang's behavior solely as parrot-fashion learning. … apes possess random exploratory activity and innovations which can lead to new successes.”
See also
*
Animal intelligence
Animal cognition encompasses the mental capacities of non-human animals, including insect cognition. The study of animal conditioning and learning used in this field was developed from comparative psychology. It has also been strongly influ ...
*
Chantek
Chantek (December 17, 1977 – August 7, 2017), born at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, was a male hybrid Sumatran/Bornean orangutan who demonstrated a number of intellectual skills, including the use of se ...
*
List of individual apes
This is a list of non-human apes of encyclopedic interest. It includes individual chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, and gibbons that are in some way famous or notable.
Actors
* J. Fred Muggs (a chimpanzee born 1952) was a "co-host" ...
*
Tool use by animals
Tool use by non-humans is a phenomenon in which a non-human animal uses any kind of tool in order to achieve a goal such as acquiring food and water, Personal grooming, grooming, combat, defence, Animal communication, communication, Play (activ ...
References
External links
Orangutans' Intelligence
{{Notable apes
Primatology
Individual orangutans