Humans aren't the only species that can pretend, a study shows. Scientists offered a bonobo imaginary juice and grapes in a make-believe tea party, and the ape played along.

In the study, three controlled experiments were used to test whether an ape could actually track a pretend object in a consistent, rule-based way.

Discover how an ape playing tea party teaches us humans are not the only beings with complex mental lives.

A bonobo demonstrated the ability to track imaginary objects in controlled tests, challenging the belief that imagination is uniquely human and hinting at deep evolutionary roots. In a set of ...

New study reveals our closest relatives share the cognitive roots of imagination and pretense. Remember childhood tea parties? The cups are empty, the teapot is dry, yet the air is thick with the ...

World Bonobo Day reminds us that one of our closest relatives lives by cooperation, not conflict, and now faces serious ...

Children love to play pretend, holding imaginary tea parties, educating classrooms of teddies or running their own grocery stores. Now, a new study suggests that such make-believe play is not a ...

A bonobo named Kanzi surprised scientists by successfully playing along in pretend tea party experiments, tracking imaginary juice and grapes as if they were real. He consistently pointed to the ...

Amalia Bastos first met Kanzi the bonobo in 2023. Bastos was “starstruck,” she recalls: Kanzi was famous for learning how to ...

Kanzi, a bonobo with exceptional language skills, took part in a make-believe tea party that demonstrated cognitive abilities never seen before in non-human primates ...

Is the capacity to imagine unique to humans? Scientists thought so—until a bonobo named Kanzi was invited to a pretend tea party.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there's an effort to save one of humankind's closest living relatives: the bonobo. This benefits the animals, brain research and the economy of the DRC. The ...