"The problem boils down to not comparing like with like. Most apes involved in psychological experiments are raised in captivity, held in labs or sanctuaries. They frequently haven't had a full social life involving other apes, and the vast majority haven't had close social encounters with humans on a regular basis, either.
And yet in experiments, they are frequently exposed to human social behaviours, such as pointing at objects. With no training or exposure to what this means in a social context, it's not fair to compare their aptitude for understanding what pointing means with a toddler, for example."
FB: "It's not just that the apes are being expected to understand human communication without exposure to human social interactions, but apes are also being expected to act like a specific subset of humans."
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