Can chimpanzees become intelligent?

Compared with most other animals, chimpanzees are incredibly intelligent: They work with tools, communicate with complex vocalizations, and are good problem-solvers. In both chimps and humans, this brain region continues to grow and organize for years after birth, allowing us to learn and develop socially.

Will chimps keep evolving?

The rest is human evolutionary history. As for the chimps, just because they stayed in the trees doesn’t mean they stopped evolving. “They’re clearly doing a good job at being chimps,” Pobiner said. “They’re still around, and as long as we don’t destroy their habitat, they probably will be” for many years to come.

Are chimps or bonobos smarter?

The bonobo apes, more commonly known as pygmy chimpanzees, beat the group of chimpanzees 4-2 in intelligence tests. Bonobos are a primate unique to Congo and humankind’s closest relative – they share 98.4 percent of their genetic make-up with humans.

Did monkeys evolve into apes?

By the early Miocene Epoch, apes had evolved from monkeys and displaced them from many environments. In the late Miocene, the evolutionary line leading to hominins finally became distinct. This hominin line included our direct ancestors.

Why are bonobos smart?

Some scientists believe that bonobos are the most intelligent of the primates (other than humans, of course!). Maybe that’s because they share many of our human behaviors, such as teaching their young social skills, using tools to get food, and working together for the good of the entire troop.

How are bonobos like humans?

Ever since researchers sequenced the chimp genome in 2005, they have known that humans share about 99\% of our DNA with chimpanzees, making them our closest living relatives. The researchers also found that bonobos share about 98.7\% of their DNA with humans—about the same amount that chimps share with us.

Why are humans smarter than chimpanzees?

Now a new study sheds light on why: Unlike chimps, humans undergo a massive explosion in white matter growth, or the connections between brain cells, in the first two years of life. Despite sharing 98 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees, humans have much bigger brains and are, as a species, much more intelligent.