The chimpanzee, the smartest of all primates apart from man, is smarter than scientists had thought. Trained chimpanzees have shown that they can be taught to use a form of mute language to "talk" to their instructors.
First, chimpanzees learn symbols by a series of simple words.
These symbols are figures marked on tokens. For example, chimpanzees learn that if they give their trainer a token marked with a circle, they will receive a banana in return.
Other figures represent other words. Within a short time, chimpanzees were building their own "phrases," placing a group of tokens in a certain order. But what did the chimpanzees say? Most were simple things, like, "I want a banana now.
These chimpanzees even learned to operate a vending machine. They were taught that certain tokens, when placed in the slot of the machine, would give them a piece of fruit. The chimpanzees soon began to accumulate their tokens, and they even fought each other for the "coins"!
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