He can cook, play music!

 

The bonobo is a more gentle and intelligent cousin of the chimpanzee. Its only natural their homeland is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.


Bonobos are our closest animal relative (sharing about 99 per cent of our DNA) and physically resemble our distant ancestors. 

Kanzi, now 33, has been fully immersed in the human world, and the English language, since birth. Scientists who have studied Kanzi all his life say he possesses a vocabulary big enough to follow and contribute to simple conversations.

 The recent BBC series Monkey Planet has sparked renewed fascination in this great ape after it demonstrated a stunning example of his capabilities.

 Kanzi was filmed breaking up kindling for a fire, deftly sliding open a box of matches, striking one against the box and then lighting his fire. He then carefully threaded marshmallows on to a stick, toasted and ate them.
But what is this hairy boy

He has learned to ‘say’ about 500 words through the keyboard and understands about 3,000 of them. Equally importantly, he was the first primate who didn’t acquire language through direct training.



Instead, much like a human child, he picked it up simply by listening as researchers tried to teach his foster mother. (Teco is now doing the same by watching his father.)

Through a mixture of observation and encouragement, Kanzi has also picked up an astonishing set of manual skills.

He can cook, make knives out of stone and play the arcade game Pac-Man (he can get past the first round — a feat beyond many humans). He and his similarly talented late sister, Panbanisha, once even jammed with British rock star Peter Gabriel, playing along on a keyboard as the former Genesis man played a synthesizer.

 

 

 Culled from Dailymail