Apes will never be like us
Primates may be able to imitate, but they are unable to innovate – which is why they will never become like humans, a New Scientist report has revealed.
In a blow to evolutionary scientists, who claim that humans evolved from primates, researchers in Germany have identified as ‘uniquely human’ the traits of innovation and self-improvement.
Chimpanzees may have a kind of culture and be able to use tools, but they cannot make the innovative leap in thought processes that the more complex organism, Homo sapiens, can.
Dr Claudio Tennie of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, performed a task to test the dexterity or memory of children and primates. While the children were able to perform the feat after watching Tennie, the apes could not.
However, putting this all down to psychology – that apes focus on the outcome, while humans want to be able to solve the task itself – does not go far enough to explain the fundamental difference between the two species.
Both are wonderfully made, but mankind is made in ‘God’s own image’ and therefore will always transcend other forms.
