From Smithsonian Magazine: When Bonobos Know What You Don’t, They’ll Tell You. It’s a Sign of a Cognitive Ability Called ‘Theory of Mind’
For their study, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a bonobo would watch someone place a treat beneath one of three cups in proximity to Townrow. Sometimes, Townrow did not see which cup hid the treat, but the bonobo could only have the treat if Townrow gave it to him.
“We established a co-operative context to this task, because if I knew whether the treat or the food item was hidden, I would reveal it and then the bonobo would be able to receive that as a reward,” Townrow tells NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce.
“We predicted that if apes are really tracking ignorance, when their partners lacked knowledge they would be pointing more often and more quickly, and that’s exactly what they did,” Krupenye explains in a statement.
