The odds are on the ape

Dec 31, 2011 |

London

Apes are more clever than you thought. The animals are capable of gambling like humans by calculating odds, say researchers.
A new study, led by Daniel Haun of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Germany, has revealed that apes are quite apt in calculating the odds before taking risks like gambling. The researchers observed apes as they gambled using upturned cups
concealing pieces of chopped banana. Given the choice of a safe bet of a small piece of banana or a larger chunk of fruit hidden beneath one of a selection of shuffled cups, the apes chose to gamble more than 50 per cent of the time.
The team found that they were also able to identify when the odds were stacked against them and when it was wiser to go with the safe bet.

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