Predicting chimp intelligence

During the study, they noticed a wide range of skills among the chimps and wondered whether they could measure this variation in ability—and whether there were studies that could predict the chimps’ overall performance in all areas, like an IQ test in humans. So they gave a battery of physical and social tests to 106 chimps at Ngamba Island and the Tchimpounga chimpanzee sanctuary in the Republic of the Congo, and to 23 captive chimpanzees and bonobos in Germany. In one experiment, chimps were asked to find food in a container after it had been shuffled around with empty containers. In another, they had to use a stick to get food placed on a high platform. The researchers analysed the data to determine if the scores in some tests helped predict performance in others.

"In general, we don’t find any kind of general intelligence factor that can predict intelligence in all areas," Herrmann says. "But we did find a big variation overall, and this one outstanding individual."

The article gives precious few details about how smart this one chimp is. A much better demonstration, fascinating in its own right, can be seen in this short video. In some ways, chimp memory is far superior to humans :

The stand-out individual, Natasha, was the chimp that caretakers—who don’t administer tests to the chimps but do feed them, clean their cages, and accompany them on walks—consistently ranked as the smartest based on only the way she interacted with them. But there's nothing about Natasha's life—extra attention or time spent with humans, for example—that explains how she became so astute. "Motivation and temperament probably play a role," Herrmann says. "That's something that we want to look more into."

That suggests to me a strong genetic component to intelligence. Though it would be interesting correlate this with an analysis of chimp sociology, e.g. apart from their handlers, how do those genius chimps interact with each other ? Do they tend to learn their skills from other chimps ? Are the cleverest chimps the ones with the most social connections ? Of course, then one would have to determine if these social connections drive intelligence or if it's the cleverest chimps who are able to make those connections in the first place...

I guess a better study would be to find some short-lived, moderately social animal (one that can tolerate isolation) and raise some individuals in isolation and an equal number as a group. The isolated group would be a control to determine the rate that abilities evolve without "teaching", i.e. watching other chimps or handlers. The social group would show how abilities spread through the group. What would be particularly interesting would be to compare the rate of polymath animals in both groups : are geniuses naturally gifted or are they made by society ?

Of course, one would have to be very careful to extrapolate this too far to human societies. Someone may be fantastically intelligent yet simply lack the crucial piece of information to make a big breakthrough; they might not find the field they're really good at; social structures may mean their discoveries are not communicated effectively, etc. But it would still be an interesting experiment.

Chimps' Answer to Einstein

Natasha, a chimp at the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda, has always seemed different from her peers. She's learned to escape from her enclosure, teases human caretakers, and scores above other chimps in communication tests. Now, Natasha has a new title: genius.