# Wild chimps outwit humans.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [September 3, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480 "2010-09-03T13:13:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/1 "2010-09-03T13:13:15Z")
\*Across Africa, people often lay snare traps to catch bushmeat, killing or injuring chimps and other wildlife.
But a few chimps living in the rainforests of Guinea have learnt to recognise these snare traps laid by human hunters, researchers have found.
More astonishing, **the chimps actively seek out and intentionally deactivate the traps, setting them off without being harmed**. \*
From [BBC](http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8962000/8962747.stm).
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### Author:  [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/2 "2010-09-03T14:10:17Z")
until they start catching people in traps, they are still below Ewoks
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### Author:  [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/3 "2010-09-04T03:39:42Z")
LOL.
I’d feel safer if Charlton Heston was still around, though.
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### Author:  [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/4 "2010-09-04T04:11:47Z")
> [@PSXer](#):
>
> until they start catching people in traps, they are still below Ewoks
[Think again](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A-zSzv685k). Monkeys would have built their own AT-AT.
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/5 "2010-09-06T15:26:54Z")
I would guess the chimps are not actually thinking about it but observing it. If the chimps sees a human set the trap, it watches the human test the trap. Then it watches the human deactivate it and reset it.
Chimps are known to easily watch and copy human behaviour so this shouldn’t be surprising.
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### Author:  [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/6 "2010-09-06T15:29:11Z")
> [@Markxxx](#):
>
> I would guess the chimps are not actually thinking about it but observing it. If the chimps sees a human set the trap, it watches the human test the trap. Then it watches the human deactivate it and reset it.
>
> Chimps are known to easily watch and copy human behaviour so this shouldn’t be surprising.
I remember the article being all amzaed because trial and error wasn’t possibl;e as “one mistake would result in death!!!” Ummm what about the chimp or chimps stood around watching the unfortunate dead one? Do they not still learn?
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### Author:  [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/7 "2010-09-06T15:32:38Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#):
>
> I remember the article being all amzaed because trial and error wasn’t possibl;e as “one mistake would result in death!!!” Ummm what about the chimp or chimps stood around watching the unfortunate dead one? Do they not still learn?
Heh. Great point. Learning through observation. They saw people do it, they saw their fellows get caught or get it wrong. The ones doing it successfully knew how to do it before they tried. The ones who did it unsuccessfully, well…
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/8 "2010-09-06T16:00:58Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#):
>
> I remember the article being all amzaed because trial and error wasn’t possibl;e as “one mistake would result in death!!!” Ummm what about the chimp or chimps stood around watching the unfortunate dead one? Do they not still learn?
Scientists have found that chimps are amazingly similar to Southern rednecks. They do learn and communicate by experimenting or just cheering another one on and watching to see what happens. There is a chimp whoop and holler that translates directly into “Hey y’all, check this shit out!”.
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### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/9 "2010-09-06T16:19:58Z")
It’s amazing that we would think primates as similar to us as chimpanzees _wouldn’t_ be capable of learning by trial and error. They have big brains. They solve problems. Remember, if politics and human exceptionalism didn’t apply to science, they’d probably be congeneric with us.
Unfortunately, they aren’t planning far enough ahead, as this bit of cleverness will simply make humans come at them in force, with high-powered rifles.
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### Author:  [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/10 "2010-09-06T16:21:00Z")
What? No “I, for one, welcome our new chimp overlords” yet?
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### Author:  [@may\_be\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/may_be_ignorant)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/11 "2010-09-06T17:09:05Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> > [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#):
> >
> > I remember the article being all amzaed because trial and error wasn’t possibl;e as “one mistake would result in death!!!” Ummm what about the chimp or chimps stood around watching the unfortunate dead one? Do they not still learn?
>
> Scientists have found that chimps are amazingly similar to Southern rednecks. They do learn and communicate by experimenting or just cheering another one on and watching to see what happens. There is a chimp whoop and holler that translates directly into “Hey y’all, check this shit out!”.
Oh I must admit I laughed
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/12 "2010-09-06T17:12:06Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#):
>
> [
> I remember the article being all amzaed because trial and error wasn’t possibl;e as “one mistake would result in death!!!” Ummm what about the chimp or chimps stood around watching the unfortunate dead one? Do they not still learn?
Doesn’t work with rednecks.
Damit, beaten to the punch.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-chimps-outwit-humans/552480/13 "2010-09-07T17:23:53Z")
> [@Ogre](#):
>
> It’s amazing that we would think primates as similar to us as chimpanzees _wouldn’t_ be capable of learning by trial and error. They have big brains. They solve problems. Remember, if politics and human exceptionalism didn’t apply to science, they’d probably be congeneric with us.
Right. This article shows more about our expectations than it does about their abilities.