--- title: Clever primates: tool-using chimps, Kanzi the bonobo and Ayumu's memory — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Clever primates: tool-using chimps, Kanzi the bonobo and Ayumu's memory», a lesson of the biology course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A chimpanzee picks a grass stem, strips off the leaves, pokes it into a termite mound, waits, and --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/) / Clever primates: tool-using chimps, Ka… # Clever primates: tool-using chimps, Kanzi the bonobo and Ayumu's memory Lesson 387 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 18 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/0/) — A chimpanzee picks a grass stem, strips off the leaves, pokes it into a termite mound, waits, and pulls it out covered in termites. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/1/) — Stripping the leaves means it is making a tool, not just finding one. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/2/) — Young chimps learn tricks like this by watching their mothers for years, the way you learned to tie your laces by watching someone. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/3/) — Different chimp groups use different tools, and snow monkeys in Japan copied one young female who washed sandy sweet potatoes. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/4/) — A habit learned from others and passed on is a small piece of culture. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/5/) — Some apes learned surprising things with people: Kanzi the bonobo used hundreds of picture symbols, and Ayumu the chimp remembered numbers flashed on a screen for less than a second. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/6/) — But scientists must test carefully, because it is easy to see what we hope to see in an animal's answers. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/7/) — A chimp pushes a stripped grass stem into a termite mound, waits for termites to bite it and pulls it out to eat them. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/8/) — Chimps in West Africa crack nuts by putting them on a stone or root anvil and hitting them with a hammer stone; it takes years of practice. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/9/) — Scientists dug up chimp nut-cracking stones about 4,300 years old. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/10/) — Chimps also use chewed-leaf sponges and digging sticks, and some in Senegal were reported to sharpen sticks to hunt small animals in tree holes. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/11/) — Kanzi the bonobo learned hundreds of picture symbols by watching his mother's lessons, understood many spoken English sentences and learned to make sharp stone flakes. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/12/) — Ayumu, a young chimp in Japan, remembered where numbers 1 to 9 were after seeing them for less than a second; whether chimps really beat people at this is still argued. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/13/) — In Japan a young female macaque began washing sandy sweet potatoes in water, and the habit spread through her troop by copying. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/14/) — Bearded capuchin monkeys in Brazil crack palm nuts with stones nearly as heavy as themselves, and they choose and carry the best stones. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/15/) — Orangutans, which live in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, use big leaves as umbrellas, and one wild orangutan was reported to put chewed plant juice on a cut on his face, which then healed. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/16/) — Apes have five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot, with a grasping big toe; a chimp's thumb is shorter than ours. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/18/) — Koko the gorilla used many signs, but scientists still argue how much she understood, so careful tests are needed. - ← previous: [Giants people saw: Steller's sea cow, Haast's eagle, giant lemurs and elephant birds](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/386-giants-people-saw-steller-s-sea-cow-haast-s-eagle-giant-lemurs-and-elephant-birds/) - next →: [Surprising brains: tool-using fish, counting bees, laughing rats and clever pigs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/388-surprising-brains-tool-using-fish-counting-bees-laughing-rats-and-clever-pigs/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/)