Borneo Apes Communicate Through Mime

[MineralMan]

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/61991/title/Orangutans_can_mime_their_desires

For example, orangutans being rehabilitated into free-living forest life at a facility on Borneo sometimes get dirt scrubbed off their faces by a person with a leaf, says study coauthor and cognitive ecologist Anne Russon of York University in Toronto. So, she says, she did know what was going on when a young male called Cecep plopped down in front of her and handed her a leaf.

“I played dumb,” she remembers. “He waited a respectable few seconds, then — all the while looking me in the eye — he took back the leaf, rubbed it on his own forehead….” Again he handed it to her. “Then I did as I was told,” she says, and wiped away the dirt.

There's also an interesting video of this behavior at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10926301

The more we learn about apes, the more we understand about ourselves.