In one of the most extensive studies on chimp intelligence to date, researchers rule nature over nurture.
It is no secret that chimpanzees are our very close relatives in the animal kingdom. However, findings from the study featured in Current BiologyCurrent Biology reveal that the domineering role genes play in determining chimp IQ make us even more alike.
The report summary gives explanation that “in contrast to human IQ, until recently, views of learning and cognition in animals have largely been dominated by the behaviorist school of thought.” In other words, animal intelligence has historically been assumed to be a result of environmental factors rather than based on heredity.
This recent study proves that scientists have been looking in the wrong place. According to National Geographicthe study verified that a chimpanzees level of intelligence is half based on genes, and half based on the environment – a ratio widely understood to be shared by humans. The study used 99 chimps with an “expansive family tree” and subjected them to a series of 13 intelligence tests. The areas with the highest evidence of genetic linkage had to do with spatial cognition, and social intelligence.