Vandal Humor

We reported in October about the bonobo with a vandal's sense of humor. It seems the female bonobo pulled a fire alarm just to watch the silly humans scurry around. The staff at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa had a "discussion" with her afterward and said that she had promised never to do it again. Which, of course, proves the relative intelligence of the staff members of the Great Ape Trust of Iowa.

Because Panbanisha the bonobo just did it again.

The trouble started at about 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, when Panbanisha wanted to go outside but the staff was too busy to let her out, trust officials said. Panbanisha then apparently lost her temper and pulled the alarm, officials said.

It's a trick Panbanisha initially learned in October when she saw a welder start the alarm. It took her less than a day to learn how to duplicate the excitement.

When the alarm sounded again the next morning, "I went to check on Pan, and she was sitting there next to it with a smile on her face," said lead scientist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh last month.

Savage-Rumbaugh said she explained the danger of such mischief and Panbanisha promised not to do it again.

Panbanisha is one of seven bonobos at the Great Ape Trust and was among the first group to arrive in April 2005. Bonobos are one of the most human-like of the great apes and have sophisticated language skills.

Ahem. We predicted this exact outcome, did we not?

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1. The Anchoress » No, really, I can’t blog today… — Thursday, 16 November , 2006 @ 11:44 am