Do the Math

Occasionally, scientists will conduct experiments with animals that show how other living creatures can do some of the things we thought only people could do. Koko the gorilla, for example, communicates through sign language.

A new study shows how rhesus macaque monkeys could be trained to recognize two sets of symbols, with as many as 26 symbols in the sets, and also add the symbols together in a form of arithmetic. Some folks may read about this and suggest the monkeys' arithmetical abilities demonstrate the dividing line between human beings and other animals is not nearly as solid as we would like to think it is. Sure, someone might counter, the monkeys seem limited to just basic math instead of algebra or calculus, and they don't always get the right answer. But there are a number of people (author raises hand sheepishly) who are not so hot at those things either. So the difference is just a matter of degree, not of kind, and that bright dividing line we hold to is on shaky ground.

Maybe. But I doubt it. After all, who dreamed up the arithmetic the monkeys used? And who dreamed up the experiment to show they could? And who trained them to do it? And who wondered whether or not another animal could do some of the things that human beings do?

You get the picture.

You want me to be really amazed, you show me some monkeys who dreamed up an experiment to see whether or not people will fling their feces at each other as a form of insult.