Gorilla Safari Uganda, Rwanda, Congo Africa: Mountain Gorilla Safaris And Tours

Intelligence In The Gorilla And The Other Great Apes

The use of tools in the wild by chimpanzees has been observed and well established for some time now and in fact recently chimps have also been observed successfully hunting lemurs with crude yet self-crafted spears.

On the other hand tool use by gorillas in the wild has been little observed and certainly not to the same extent or sophistication as their more rambunctious cousins, the chimpanzee. So then do these observations lay to rest once and for all the age old quandary about “which species of ape is second to man in intelligence”?

Patterns of Intelligence

It is now recognized that certain regions of the human brain play a more significant role in the processes of functional memory, emotional behavior, creative thought, motor control (movement), planning and decision making as well as language. The aspect of the brain most closely associated with such processes is the frontal lobe.

Many of the sophisticated behavioral patterns and attributes characteristic of humans are believed to originate from the frontal lobe and in fact this area of the brain has been identified as the most likely candidate responsible for species-specific cognitive ability and characteristics.

Bearing this in mind, it is little wonder that researchers and scientists are eagerly studying anatomical comparisons of the brains of the great apes (man inclusive) with particular emphasis on the frontal lobes of the cerebral hemispheres of the brain.