Great apes can imagine and pretend, challenging human uniqueness

Great apes can now be experimentally shown to imagine and pretend, abilities previously thought to be exclusively human. A bonobo named Kanzi demonstrated the ability to track imaginary objects, suggesting a shared evolutionary root for symbolic thought with humans. This challenges previous understandings of primate cognition. The research, published in Science, involved controlled experiments with Kanzi, a bonobo with extensive symbol training, raising questions about the uniqueness of human imagination.