It has been widely believed that humans are the only organisms capable of imagination. However, a recently published research on Kanzi, a bonobo trained to respond to human language, challenged this long-held belief. As co-author Christopher Krupenye, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins, stated, “Imagination has long been seen as a critical element of what it is to be human, but the idea that it may not be exclusive to our species is really transformative.”
The study was conducted at Johns Hopkins University, where Krupenye and his colleagues designed experiments resembling a children’s tea party with Kanzi the bonobo. Kanzi was presented with different tasks, like pretending to pour an imaginary juice from one transparent, empty cup into another and identifying the cup with the imaginary juice. The team repeated these tests using grapes and other scenarios to test Kanzi’s ability to track imaginary objects or engage in pretend play. In all of these experiments, Kanzi performed with surprising accuracy.
This discovery has important implications for how scientists understand animal intelligence and evolution. It suggests that imagination may have developed earlier in evolutionary history than previously believed. Beyond its relevance to evolution studies, these findings also bring forward the importance of animal conservation and pushes back upon an anthropocentric worldview that deprives animals of their emotions and mental life. “Imagination is one of those things that in humans gives us a rich mental life. And if some roots of imagination are shared with apes, that should make people question their assumption that other animals are just living robotic lifestyles constrained to the present,” Krupenye said.