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Chimps Have a Built-In GPS

Posted by kdawson on from the please-return-to-the-highlighted-route dept.

destinyland writes "European researchers have discovered that chimpanzees have a built-in mental GPS, keeping 'a geometric mental map of their home range, moving from point to point in nearly straight lines.' Using GPS, two primatologists followed 15 chimpanzees for 217 days, and determined that the apes were 'using a mental map built around geometric coordinates.' They're not just identifying landmarks in their surroundings, and in fact, even when swinging through trees, the chimps planned out their route several trees in advance. Here's the paper in the journal Animal Behavior."

3 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Does this mean by SnarfQuest · · Score: 2, Interesting

    With this built-in GPS, would chimp-mounted lasers be more accurate than shark-mounted ones?

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  2. Re:What does the G in GPS stand for by NewbieProgrammerMan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe it's just that people writing these summaries and/or articles haven't the faintest clue how GPS operates. It's just a magical box on their dashboard that can figure out a route from A to B, so when <other creature/object X> can plan a route from one point to another, it must be similar, right?

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  3. Re:What does the G in GPS stand for by nine-times · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's not just what GPS stands for, either. Not every positioning system that works globally is GPS. Yeah, I'm being pedantic, but "GPS" really is supposed to indicate the particular system, not just any system.

    So saying chimps have built-in GPS because they can navigate is a little like saying they have built-in Canon Powershot cameras because they can see.