Susan Savage-Rumbaugh: The gentle genius of bonobos

Translator: Magnus Kjer Reviewer: Jonas Tholstrup Christensen

I work with a species called "Bonobo."

Jeg arbejder med en art kaldt Bonobo

And I'm happy most of the time,

Og jeg er glad det meste af tiden,

because I think this is the happiest species on the planet.

fordi jeg tror det er den lykkeligste art på planeten.

It's kind of a well-kept secret.

Det er en slags hemmelighed

This species lives only in the Congo.

Denne art lever kun i Congo.

And they're not in too many zoos, because of their sexual behavior.

Og de er ikke i ret mange zoologiske haver, på grund af deres seksuelle adfærd.

Their sexual behavior is too human-like

Deres seksuelle adfærd er for menneskelig,

for most of us to be comfortable with.

til hvad de fleste af os er trygge ved.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

But --

Men --

(Laughter)

(Latter)

actually, we have a lot to learn from them, because they're a very

faktisk har vi meget at lære af dem, fordi de har et meget

egalitarian society and they're a very empathetic society.

ligestillet samfund og et meget empatisk samfund.

And sexual behavior is not confined to one aspect of their life

Og den seksuelle adfærd er ikke begrænset til én del af deres liv

that they sort of set aside.

som de nærmest sætter til side.

It permeates their entire life.

Det gennemsyrer hele deres liv.

And it's used for communication.

Og det bliver brugt til kommunikation.

And it's used for conflict resolution.

Og det bliver brugt til konfliktløsning.

And I think perhaps somewhere in our history we sort of,

Og jeg tror måske et sted i historien vi på en måde,

divided our lives up into lots of parts.

delte vores liv op i mange stykker.

We divided our world up with lots of categories.

Vi delte vores verden op i mange kategorier.

And so everything sort of has a place that it has to fit.

Og alt har et sted det skal passe i.

But I don't think that we were that way initially.

Men jeg tror ikke vi var sådan i starten.

There are many people who think that the animal world is hard-wired

Der er mange mennesker der tror at dyreverdenen er hugget i sten,

and that there's something very, very special about man.

og at der er noget meget, meget specielt ved mennesket.

Maybe it's his ability to have causal thought.

Måske er det menneskets evne til tænkte selv.

Maybe it's something special in his brain

Måske er det noget særligt i vores hjerne

that allows him to have language.

der tillader sprog.

Maybe it's something special in his brain

Måske er det noget specielt i menneskets hjerne

that allows him to make tools or to have mathematics.

der tillader evnen til at lave værktøj eller matematik.

Well, I don't know. There were Tasmanians who were discovered

Tja, jeg ved det ikke. Der var tasmanere der var opdaget

around the 1600s and they had no fire.

omkring 1600-tallet og de havde ingen ild.

They had no stone tools.

De havde ingen stenredskaber.

To our knowledge they had no music.

Hvad vi ved af, havde de ingen musik.

So when you compare them to the Bonobo,

So hvis man sammenligner dem med bonoboerne,

the Bonobo is a little hairier.

er bonoboen en smule mere behåret.

He doesn't stand quite as upright.

Han står ikke helt så oprejst.

But there are a lot of similarities.

Men der er mange ligheder.

And I think that as we look at culture,

Og jeg tror at når vi kigger på kultur,

we kind of come to understand

kommer vi på en måde til at forstå

how we got to where we are.

hvordan vi kom hvor vi er.

And I don't really think it's in our biology;

Og jeg tror ikke det er i vores biologi,

I think we've attributed it to our biology,

jeg tror vi har tilskrevet det til vores biologi,

but I don't really think it's there.

men jeg tror ikke det er rigtigt.

So what I want to do now is introduce you

Så nu vil jeg introducere dig

to a species called the Bonobo.

til en art kaldet bonobo.

This is Kanzi.

Det er Kanzi.

He's a Bonobo.

Han er en bonobo.

Right now, he's in a forest in Georgia.

Lige nu er han i en skov i Georgia.

His mother originally came from a forest in Africa.

Hans mor er originalt fra en skov i Afrika.

And she came to us when she was just at puberty,

Og hun kom til os da hun var en -- blot i puberteten,

about six or seven years of age.

omkring seks eller syv år gammel.

Now this shows a Bonobo on your right,

Dette viser en bonobo til højre,

and a chimpanzee on your left.

og en chimpanse til venstre.

Clearly, the chimpanzee has a little bit harder time of walking.

Tydeligvis har chimpansen en smule mere besvær ved at gå.

The Bonobo, although shorter than us and their arms still longer,

Bonoboen, dog lavere end os og deres arme stadig længere,

is more upright, just as we are.

er mere oprejst, ligesom os.

This shows the Bonobo compared to an australopithecine like Lucy.

Dette viser bonoboen sammenlignet med en australopithecin som Lucy.

As you can see, there's not a lot of difference

Som du kan se er der ikke den store forskel,

between the way a Bonobo walks

på hvordan en bonobo går

and the way an early australopithecine would have walked.

og hvordan en tidlig australopithecin ville have gået.

As they turn toward us you'll see

Som de vender sig mod os vil du se

that the pelvic area of early australopithecines is a little flatter

at bækkenområdet er lidt fladere hos tidlige de australopitheciner

and doesn't have to rotate quite so much from side to side.

og behøver ikke at rotere lige så meget fra side til side.

So the -- the bipedal gait is a little easier.

Så -- den tobenede gangart er lidt nemmere.

And now we see all four.

Og nu ser vi alle fire.

Video: Narrator: The wild Bonobo lives in central Africa, in the jungle

Video: Den vilde bonobo lever i Central Afrika, i junglen

encircled by the Congo River.

omringet af Congo Floden.

Canopied trees as tall as 40 meters, 130 feet,

Trækroner på 40 meters højde, 130 fod,

grow densely in the area.

vokser tæt i dette område.

It was a Japanese scientist

Det var en japansk videnskabsmand,

who first undertook serious field studies of the Bonobo,

der først lavede seriøse studier i felten af bonobo aberne,

almost three decades ago.

næsten tre årtier siden.

Bonobos are built slightly smaller than the chimpanzee.

Bonoboer er bygget en smule smallere end chimpanserne.

Slim-bodied, Bonobos are by nature very gentle creatures.

Slankt bygget, bonoboer er af natur meget blide dyr.

Long and careful studies have reported many new findings on them.

Lange og omhyggelige undersøgelser har vist mange nye fund.

One discovery was that wild Bonobos often walk bidpedally.

En opdagelse er at vilde bonobo aber ofte går oprejst.

What's more, they are able to walk upright for long distances.

Ydermere, de er i stand til at gå oprejst over lange distancer.

Susan Savage-Rumbaugh (video): Let's go say hello to Austin first and then go to the A frame.

Lad os sige hej til Austin først.

SS: This is Kanzi and I, in the forest.

Susan Savage-Rumbaugh: Dette er Kanzi og mig, i skoven.

None of the things you will see in this particular video are trained.

Ingen af disse ting du vil se i denne video er trænede.

None of them are tricks.

Ingen af dem er tricks.

They all happened to be captured on film spontaneously,

De skete alt sammen spontant,

by NHK of Japan.

af NHK fra Japan.

We have eight Bonobos.

Vi har otte Bonoboer.

Video: Look at all this stuff that's here for our campfire.

Video: Se alle de ting vi har her på grund af vores bål.

SS: An entire family at our research centre.

SS: En hel familie på vores forskningscenter.

Video: You going to help get some sticks?

Video: Hjælper du med at hente nogle pinde?

Good.

Godt.

We need more sticks, too.

Vi har brug for flere pinde.

I have a lighter in my pocket if you need one.

Jeg har en lighter i min lomme hvis du har brug for en.

That's a wasps' nest.

Det er en hvepserede.

You can get it out.

Du kan få den ud.

I hope I have a lighter.

Jeg håber jeg har en lighter.

You can use the lighter to start the fire.

Du kan bruge lighteren til at starte ilden.

SS: So Kanzi is very interested in fire.

SS: Kanzi er meget interesseret i ild.

He doesn't do it yet without a lighter,

Han kan ikke endnu, uden en lighter,

but I think if he saw someone do it, he might be able to do --

men jeg tror hvis han så nogen gøre, ville han måske kunne det --

make a fire without a lighter.

lave et bål uden en lighter.

He's learning about how to keep a fire going.

Han lærer om hvordan man holder ilden igang.

He's learning the uses for a fire,

Han lærer hvad ild kan bruges til,

just by watching what we do with fire.

bare ved at se hvad vi gør med ilden.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

This is a smile on the face of a Bonobo.

Dette er et smil på bonobo ansigtet.

These are happy vocalizations.

Disse er glade lyde.

Video: You're happy.

Video: Du er glad.

You're very happy about this part.

Du kan rigtig godt lide denne del.

You've got to put some water on the fire. You see the water?

Du skal smide noget vand på ilden. Kan du se vandet?

Good job.

Godt klaret.

SS: Forgot to zip up the back half of his backpack.

SS: Glemte at lyne hans rygsæk.

But he likes to carry things from place to place.

Men han kan godt lide at bære ting fra sted til sted.

Video: Austin, I hear you saying "Austin."

Video: Austin, jeg kan høre du siger Austin.

SS: He talks to other Bonobos at the lab, long-distance,

SS: Han taler til de andre bonoboer i laboratoriet, langdistance,

farther than we can hear.

længere end vi kan høre.

This is his sister.

Det er hans søster.

This is her first time to try to drive a golf cart.

Det her et første gang han prøver at køre en golfbil.

Video: Goodbye.

Video: Farvel.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

SS: She's got the pedals down, but not the wheel.

SS: Hun har styr på pedalerne, men ikke rattet.

She switches from reverse to forward

Hun skifter fra bakgear til fremard

and she holds onto the wheel, rather than turns it.

og hun holder fra på rattet, i stedet for at dreje det.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Like us, she knows that that individual in the mirror is her.

Ligesom os, ved hun at individet i spejlet er hende.

(Music)

Musik♪

Video: Narrator: By raising Bonobos in a culture that is both Bonobo and human,

Video: Ved at opdrage bonoboer med en kultur der både er bonobo og menneskelig,

and documenting their development across two decades,

og dokumentere deres udviklingen gennem to årtier,

scientists are exploring how cultural forces

forskere udforsker hvordan kulturelle kræfter

(Laughter)

(Latter)

may have operated during human evolution.

har virket gennem den menneskelige udvikling.

His name is Nyota.

Han navn er Nyota

It means "star" in Swahili.

Det betyder stjerne i Swahili.

(Music)

Musik♪

Panbanisha is trying to give Nyota a haircut with a pair of scissors.

Panbanisha prøver at klippe Nyota, med en saks.

In the wild, the parent Bonobo is known to groom its offspring.

I det vilde, er bonobo-forældre tilbøjelig til at børste og rense deres unger.

Here Panbanisha uses scissors, instead of her hands,

Her bruger Panbanisha en saks i stedet for hendes hænder,

to groom Nyota.

til at klippe Nyota.

Very impressive.

Meget imponerende.

Subtle maneuvering of the hands is required

Præcise manøvreringer af hænderne er nødvendige

to perform delicate tasks like this.

til at klare nøjagtige opgaver som denne.

Nyota tries to imitate Panbanisha by using the scissors himself.

Nyota prøver at efterligne Panbanisha ved at bruge saksen selv.

Realizing that Nyota might get hurt,

Efter tanken at Nyota måske kunne komme til skade,

Panbanisha, like any human mother,

gør Panbanisha ligesom en anden menneskelig mor,

carefully tugs to get the scissors back.

og trækker forsigtigt saksen tilbage.

He can now cut through tough animal hide.

Han kan nu skære gennem kraftigt dyreskind.

SS: Kanzi's learned to make stone tools.

SS: Kanzi har lært at lave stenredskaver.

Video: Kanzi now makes his tools,

Video: Kanzi laver nu værktøj,

just as our ancestors may have made them,

muligvis ligesom vores slægtninge har lavet dem,

two-and-a-half million years ago --

to og en halv million år siden --

by holding the rocks in both hands, to strike one against the other.

ved at holde en sten i hver hånd, og slå dem mod hinaden.

He has learned that by using both hands

Han har lært at ved at bruge begge hænder

and aiming his glancing blows,

og sigte hans snittende slag,

he can make much larger, sharper flakes.

kan han lave større og skarpere flager.

Kanzi chooses a flake he thinks is sharp enough.

Kanzi vælger den flig han tror er skarp nok.

The tough hide is difficult to cut, even with a knife.

Det kraftige skind er svært at skære i, selv med en kniv.

The rock that Kanzi is using is extremely hard

Den sten Kanzi bruger er ekstremt hård

and ideal for stone tool making, but difficult to handle,

og ideal til at lave stenværktøj med, men den er svær at håndtere,

requiring great skill.

så det kræver dygtighed.

Kanzi's rock is from Gona, Ethiopia

Kanzis sten er fra Gona i Etiopien

and is identical to that used by our African ancestors

og er identisk med sten vores Afrikanske forfædre brugte

two-and-a-half million years ago.

to og en halv million år siden.

These are the rocks Kanzi used

Disse er de sten Kanzi brugte

and these are the flakes he made.

og disse er flagerne han lavede

The flat sharp edges are like knife blades.

Den flade skarpe kant er som en knivsæg.

Compare them to the tools our ancestors used;

Sammenligner man dem med redskaber vores forfædre lavede,

they bear a striking resemblance to Kanzi's.

har de slående ligheder med Kanzis.

Panbanisha is longing to go for a walk in the woods.

Panbanisha vil gerne gå en tur i skoven.

She keeps staring out the window.

Hun bliver ved med at stirre ud af vinduet.

SS: This is -- let me show you something we didn't think they would do.

SS: Det er -- lad mig vise jer noget vi ikke troede de ville gøre.

Video: For several days now, Panbanisha has not been outside.

Video: I flere dage nu, har Panbanisha ikke være udenfor.

SS: I normally talk about language.

SS: Jeg taler normalt om sprog.

Video: Then Panbanisha does something unexpected.

Video: Pludseligt gør Panbanisha noget uventet.

SS: But since I'm advised not to do what I normally do,

SS: Siden jeg er blevet rådet til ikke at gøre hvad jeg normalt gør,

I haven't told you that these apes have language.

Jeg har ikke fortalt jer at disse aber har et sprog.

It's a geometric language.

Det er et geometrisk sprog.

Video: She takes a piece of chalk

Video: Hun tager et stykke kridt.

and begins writing something on the floor.

og begynder at skrive noget på gulvet.

What is she writing?

Hvad skriver hun?

SS: She's also saying the name of that, with her voice.

SS: Hun siger også navnet på det, med hendes stemme.

Video: Now she comes up to Dr. Sue and starts writing again.

Video: Nu kommer hun over til Dr. Sue og begynder at skrive igen.

SS: These are her symbols on her keyboard.

SS: Dette er hendes symboler på hendes tastatur.

(Music)

Musik♪

They speak when she touches them.

De siger noget når hun trykker på dem.

Video: Panbanisha is communicating to Dr. Sue where she wants to go.

Video: Panbanisha kommunikerer hvor hun gerne vil hen med Dr. Sue.

"A frame" represents a hut in the woods.

En ramme repræsentere en hytte i skoven.

Compare the chalk writing with the lexigram on the keyboard.

Sammenlign det med kalktegningen med lexigrammet på tastaturet.

Panbanisha began writing the lexigrams on the forest floor.

Panbanisha begyndte at skrive lexigrammer i skovbunden.

SS (video): Very nice. Beautiful, Panbanisha.

Meget flot. Smukt, Panbanisha.

SS: At first we didn't really realize what she was doing,

SS: Først vidste vi ikke rigtigt hvad hun lavede.

until we stood back and looked at it and rotated it.

indtil vi gik tilbage og kiggede og drejede det.

Video: This lexigram also refers to a place in the woods.

Video: Dette lexigram hentyder også til et sted i skoven.

The curved line is very similar to the lexigram.

Denne bøjede linje er meget ens med et lexigram.

The next symbol Panbanisha writes represents "collar."

Det næste symbol Panbanisha skriver repræsentere halsbånd.

It indicates the collar that Panbanisha must wear when she goes out.

Det indikere halsbåndet Panbanisha skal have på når hun går udenfor.

SS: That's an institutional requirement.

SS: Det er et institutionalt krav.

Video: This symbol is not as clear as the others,

Video: Dette symbol er ikke lige så tydeligt som de andre,

but one can see Panbanisha is trying to produce a curved line

men man kan se Panbanisha prøber at lave en bøjet linje

and several straight lines.

og flere lige linjer.

Researchers began to record what Panbanisha said,

Forskere begyndte at optage hvad Panbanisha sagde,

by writing lexigrams on the floor with chalk.

ved at skrive lexigrammer på gulvet med kalk.

Panbanisha watched.

Panbanisha kiggede.

Soon she began to write as well.

Hun begyndte også at skrive.

The Bonobo's abilities have stunned scientists around the world.

Bonoboens evner har lamslået forskere rundt om i verdenen.

How did they develop?

Hvordan er de udviklet?

SS (video): We found that the most important thing

SS: Vi har opdaget at det vigtigste

for permitting Bonobos to acquire language is not to teach them.

for at tillade bonoboer evnen til et sprog er ikke at undervise dem.

It's simply to use language around them,

Det er simpelthen at bruge sprog i nærheden af dem,

because the driving force in language acquisition

fordi den drivende kraft bag sprog

is to understand what others, that are important to you, are saying to you.

er at forstå hvad andre der er vigtige for dig, prøver at fortælle dig.

Once you have that capacity,

Så snart du har den egenskab,

the ability to produce language

vil det at bruge og producere et sprog

comes rather naturally and rather freely.

så komme naturligt og frit.

So we want to create an environment in which Bonobos,

Vi vil derfor skabe et miljø hvor bonoboerne

like all of the individuals with whom they are interacting --

kan lide alle de individer de har omgang med.

we want to create an environment in which they have fun,

Vi vil skabe omgivelser hvor de kan have det sjovt,

and an environment in which the others

og omgivelser hvor de andre

are meaningful individuals for them.

er betyder noget for dem.

Narrator: This environment brings out unexpected potential

Miljøet viser uforventede potentialer

in Kanzi and Panbanisha.

hos Kanzi og Panbanisha.

Panbanisha is enjoying playing her harmonica,

Panbanisha nyder at spiller på hendes harmonika,

until Nyota, now one year old, steals it.

indtil Nyota, nu et år gammel, stjæler den.

Then he peers eagerly into his mother's mouth.

Derefter kigger han ivrigt ind i moderens mund.

Is he looking for where the sound came from?

Leder han efter hvor lyden kommer fra?

Dr. Sue thinks it's important to allow such curiosity to flourish.

Dr. Sue tror det er vigtigt at tillade nysgerrigheden at blomstre og trives.

This time Panbanisha is playing the electric piano.

Nu spiller Panbanisha elektrisk klaver.

She wasn't forced to learn the piano;

Hun blev ikke tvunget til at lære klaveret.

she saw a researcher play the instrument and took an interest.

hun så en forsker spille på instrumentet og fik interessen.

Researcher: Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm listening.

Værsgo. Værsgo. Jeg lytter.

Do that real fast part that you did. Yeah, that part.

Prøv den der hurtige del igen. Ja, den del.

Narrator: Kanzi plays the xylophone;

Kanzi spiller xylofon,

using both hands he enthusiastically accompanies Dr. Sue's singing.

mens han bruger begge hænder hjælper han entusiastisk dr. Sue med sangen.

Kanzi and Panbanisha

Kanzi og Panbanisha

are stimulated by this fun-filled environment,

er stimuleret af disse sjove omgivelser,

which promotes the emergence of these cultural capabilities.

hvilket fremmer fremkomsten af kulturelle evner og kapaciteter.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Researcher: OK, now get the monsters. Get them.

Okay, tag monstrene. Tag dem.

Take the cherries too.

Tag også kirsebærene.

Now watch out, stay away from them now.

Pas på, hold dig væk fra dem nu.

Now you can chase them again. Time to chase them.

Nu kan du jage dem igen. Tid til at jage dem.

Now you have to stay away. Get away.

Nu skal du holde dig væk. Kom væk.

Run away. Run.

Løb væk. Løb.

Now we can chase them again. Go get them.

Nu kan du jage dem igen. Bare tag dem.

Oh no!

Åh nej!

Good Kanzi. Very good. Thank you so much.

Godt Kanzi. Meget godt. Mange tak.

Narrator: None of us, Bonobo or human, can possibly even imagine?

Ingen af os, bonobo eller menneske kan overhovedet forestille os?

SS: So we have a bi-species environment, we call it a "panhomoculture."

SS: Så vi har et to-arts miljø, vi kalder det panhomokultur.

We're learning how to become like them.

Vi lærer hvordan vi bliver som dem.

We're learning how to communicate with them,

Vi lærer hvordan man kommunikerer med dem,

in really high-pitched tones.

i virkeligt høje tonelejer.

We're learning that they probably have a language in the wild.

Vi lærer at de nok har et sprog i det vilde.

And they're learning to become like us.

Og de lærer hvordan de bliver som os.

Because we believe that it's not biology; it's culture.

Fordi vi tror det ikke er biologi, det er kultur.

So we're sharing tools and technology and language

Så vi deler værktøj og teknologi og sprog

with another species.

med en anden art.

Thank you.

Tak.