| Kanzi | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 28, 1980 Georgia State University |
| Known for | Intelligent use of lexigram |
| Children | Teco (June 1, 2010)[1] |
| Relatives | Matata (mother) Panbanisha (sister) Nyota (nephew) Nathen (nephew) |
Kanzi (born October 28, 1980), also known by the lexigram , is a male bonobo who has been featured in several studies on great ape language. According to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, a primatologist who has studied the bonobo throughout her life, Kanzi has exhibited advanced linguistic aptitude.[1][2][3]
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Born to Lorel and Bosandjo at Yerkes field station at Emory University and moved to the Language Research Center at Georgia State University, Kanzi was stolen and adopted shortly after birth by a more dominant female, Matata. As an infant, Kanzi accompanied Matata to sessions where she was taught language through keyboard lexigrams, but showed little interest in the lessons.
It was a great surprise to researchers then when one day, while Matata was away, Kanzi began competently using the lexigrams, becoming not only the first observed ape to have learned aspects of language naturalistically rather than through direct training, but also the first observed bonobo to appear to use some elements of language at all.[2][3] Within a short time, Kanzi had mastered the ten words that researchers had been struggling to teach his adoptive mother, and he has since learned more than two hundred more. When he hears a spoken word (through headphones, to filter out nonverbal clues), he points to the correct lexigram.
[2][3] According to a Discover article, Kanzi is an accomplished tool user.[4]
Kanzi, his mother, and sister now live at the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa. Kanzi is the alpha male of the resident community of Bonobos. His mother, Matata, is the chief leader (in the matriachal society of bonobos, a male's position is primarily determined by the position of the females he is related to). According to the Smithsonian magazine, Kanzi "has the mien of an aging patriarch - he's balding and paunchy with serious, deep-set eyes."[5] This description is confirmed by a full-page color photograph of Kanzi in the March 2008 National Geographic, and a full-page black-and white photograph in Time magazine.[6]
Teco, son of Kanzi, was born June 1, 2010.[7] Teco has been exhibiting behaviors that may indicate he has a form of Autism.[8]
The following are highly suggestive anecdotes, not experimental demonstrations. As with all anecdotal accounts, the strength of conclusions drawn must be limited, as compared with well-controlled experimental evidence.
Although Kanzi learned to communicate using a keyboard with lexigrams, Kanzi also picked up some American Sign Language from watching videos of Koko the gorilla, who communicates using sign language to her keeper Penny Patterson; Savage-Rumbaugh did not realize Kanzi could sign until he signed "You, Gorilla, Question" to anthropologist Dawn Prince-Hughes, who had previously worked closely with gorillas.[12]
Kanzi cannot speak vocally in a manner that is comprehensible to most humans as Bonobo chimps have different vocal tracts from humans, which makes them incapable of reproducing most of the vocal sounds humans make. At the same time, it was noticed that every time Kanzi communicated with humans with specially designed graphic symbols, he also produced some vocalization. It was later found out that Kanzi was actually producing the articulate equivalent of the symbols he was indicating, or, in other words, he was "saying" (articulating) these words, although in a very high pitch and with distortions.[13]