Chimp’s Genes Affect Their Intelligence

The closest cousins we have in the animal kingdom are chimps. They sort of look and behave like us, which is why a number of studies on our more “animalistic” side is done through chimps. A recent study on intelligence has showed how a chimp’s intelligence is actually affected by its genes. This new study can actually help add answers to the question of nature vs. nurture when it comes to intelligence.

By combining genetic analysis with a number of cognitive performance tests, researchers from the Georgia State University showed that some cognitive traits can actually be inherited by chimpanzees from their parents. Although not all traits are inheritable though but it’s a big discovering especially when we link our biological similarities to the apes.

How genetics plays a role in human intelligence has always been a long standing issue. Recently, it has been discovered that humans can pass their genes down to their offspring, but environmental and social factors such as socioeconomic status and education does pay a very big role in developing it. Basically the parent’s intelligence gene is just a seed and it’s up to the environment to develop an intelligent individual.

Since the question on genetics and intelligence on humans has been answered, researchers looked at if this also applies to nonhuman primates.  Chimps have been known to learn from their environment by mimicking older members of their social circle especially when it comes to survival. The study proves that they not only carry on physical traits from their parents. Genetics also has a say on the chimp’s intelligence and cognitive abilities, making them more complex and interesting.

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Lion-eating Chimps

Lion-eating Chimps are among the many myths involving wild animals, with tales of a giant ape that’s big enough and strong enough to overpower a lion told and retold to be prowling about in the jungles of the Congo.

Daktari, a children’s series which aired on CBS from 1966 to 1969, included a cross-eyed lion and a chimpanzee as the series’ mainstay characters, with the two somewhat standing as a contradiction to the more violent relationship being told about in the Bondo Mystery Ape or the Bili, the reported 8-feet tall chimpanzee responsible for attacking lions and other established jungle predators.

Locals have long been talking about a giant chimpanzee/ape playing a part in effectively lessening the numbers of the lion population, with the said mystery creature bearing long flesh-ripping teeth which could readily maim and dismember any creature which comes its way.

Researchers and experts, however, have long dismissed the existence of a giant lion-eating chimpanzee, yet the stories of the Bondo Mystery Ape still continue to be one that is often heard.

Somewhat contradictory to what biologists and zoologists know about apes, the Bondo Mystery Ape is said to be a predator with a penchant for meat. Given that apes are known to be omnivores, the concept of a predatory ape sounds a bit far fetched, but is not altogether impossible.

Also, the said giant lion-eating chimpanzee is revealed to “howl at the Moon”, much like how wolves are known to do. In fact, the story of the mystery ape has been liked with werewolf stories, given the physical similarities described to be found in a giant ape and a werewolf.

As a mysterious creature, the lion-eating chimps of the Congo remain to be as elusive as Bigfoot, with different theories and stories also known to link them as “cousins”.

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