She added, "Clearly the extensive linguistic ability of humans, and their ability to construct complex objects, such as the computer I'm using now, are beyond the capacity of chimpanzees." Lisa Newbern of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center informed Discovery News that the chimpanzees were tested there, but only up until 1995, when the Yerkes Great Ape Nursery Closed. "The NIH (National Institutes of Health) issued a breeding moratorium on chimpanzees that same year," Newbern said. Bates explained that the current study "required extensive microanalysis and collaborative efforts" that resulted in the new paper. Bates and her colleagues hope that conservation of African rainforests, along with "providing the best possible conditions" for chimpanzees at zoos and other places, will help them "to flourish in many different settings." Van Ijzendoorn added that other studies on human babies suggest they can also excel or decline depending on the care they receive at this critical time of early life. "At the moment, hundreds of thousands of orphans -- either social orphans abandoned by their parents or orphans who lost their parents because of AIDS (and other reasons) -- are raised in orphanages in Eastern European countries, Africa, China, India and elsewhere," he said, concluding that "enrichment of the environment in the orphanages can make a big difference in cognitive development, and we think also for emotional development." Related Links: Discovery News Blog: Born Animal |
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