Chimps use geometry to navigate the jungle

Chimps use geometry to navigate the jungle

Chimps use geometry to navigate the jungle

If you're ever lost in the jungle, follow a chimpanzee. New research suggests the great apes keep a geometric mental map of their home range, moving from point to point in nearly straight lines.

After analyzing all this data, he and Normand found good evidence that the animals chose their routes using a mental map built around geometric coordinates, as opposed to a navigation style based on landmarks for well-traveled routes.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 13/3/09 by Evasius]

Are we over-analyzing their capabilities here in using actual geometry in their travels from place to place? Or perhaps maybe geometry itself is hardwired into all animal minds (including our own), and the shapes and paths reveal themselves with little or no calculations required.

One thing's for certain, the chimps don't get out a compass & slide rule every time they set out for food. So there's definitely something deeper here, something that possibly comes natural to any thinking, 'social' creature.

Chimps use geometry to navigate the jungle
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 13/3/09 by Evasius]

I think everything kind of uses Geometry in some way or another.
We do, insects do.
I guess Geometry is part of everything.

reply to post by Evasius




Well, the headline saying they use geometry, is completely different from their process appearing "geometric".

Originally posted by HunkaHunka
Well, the headline saying they use geometry, is completely different from their process appearing "geometric".

If their motion consistently 'appears' geometric, then are you suggesting that coincidence plays a routine role in creating a geometric appearance (rather than geometry itself)?

Here's a video I found interesting of a study that proved chimps had better short term memory than humans:

I am not sure it is the uses of geometry that more of a coincidence that it made a pattern. So the ape travels in a strait line from place to place. Is it geometry or efficiency. There is another saying "as the crow flies." That came about because crows flew in straight lines from point to point. Are they to using geometry.

Could it be that we have an animal conspiracy. That they control us and monitor us instead of the other way around. May be Douglas Adams was right and we are only the third smartest species on the planet.