Though us humans often care to congratulate ourselves on being the smartest of all primates , a spate of recent studies has begin to suggest that some of our tight evolutionary cousins arenot actually as far behind us as we consider . The tardy of these reveals that orangutans are capable to engage in “ active forecasting ” , meaning the prognostication of receptive effect of scenarios that have never been experienced before . Until now , this ability had been considered unique to humans .
A prime lesson of active forecasting is what researchers call “ mental appreciation shading ” , meaning the power to opine how certain solid food will taste based on their ingredients , despite having never antecedently tried that particular recipe . Abilities like this are important as they allow for us to estimate out the pros and confidence trick of certain actionswithout having to really persuade them outin gild to find out what their effect will be .
To figure out if this is indeed an exclusively human trait , researchers designed a cocktail - tasting experimentation using a male Sumatran orangutan nominate Naong , and 10 human participants . First , Naong spent time familiarizing himself with the taste of three different juice – cherry , rhubarb , and lemon – as well as orchard apple tree cider acetum .
Based on which of these he drank most eagerly , the research conclude that cherry succus was clear Naong ’s deary , fall out by rhubarb succus . gamboge juice and acetum , however , appear to offend his roof of the mouth , and he did not hide his reluctance to drink them .
Once these preferences had been ground , the team created a number of cocktail using various sum of these four ingredient , while Naong watched them flux these confection . He was then presented with couple of cocktails , of which he had to choose one to salute .
report their findings in the journalAnimal Cognition , the study author excuse how Naong ’s choices were so consistent with his preferences for individual flavors that he could not have been selecting cocktails using simple trial - and - mistake . Significantly , his operation was found to be within the range of that of the 10 human participant who also took part in the challenge .
For instance , Naong was able to make out that pledge containing high absorption of cherry red or pieplant succus , and lower concentrations of Citrus limon succus or vinegar , would taste better , even before he had examine these commixture .
According to the research worker , this determination “ challenges the conjecture that alive forecasting is an ability restrict to mankind and suggests ancient evolutionarily root for this crucial human ability . ”
