Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Exercise W44
1. There are different opinions whether apes can communicate or not. Since these animals do not have an apparatus for talking as humans beings, they look for other means to communicate.
According to the reading, apes have the ability to understand language at a very minimum level, just as a little child can use linguistic responses. However, the lecture indicates that there is not enough research that shows that apes can communicate since the use of language has to be creatively and has to be able to take turns in conversation.
The reading suggests that koko, a lowland gorilla, has showed to differentiate between many sounds. In the same way, a male companion of koko´s also learned to discriminate them. Moreover, a study indicates that an adult chimpanzee can use keyboard of symbols, even better than a young child. The lecture mentions that people skeptical of ape communication say believers are blinded by attachments.
Finally, the lecture expresses that it is necessary to make a brain scan so the dispute generated about the ability of apes to communicate might be solved.


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