For those of you aspiring script writers or producers read this article for inspiration . . . a premise for a new reality show – The Real Housewives of the Jungle or . . . for the Food Network – Jungle Cook-off . . . or . . . ?
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“If you give a chimp an oven, he or she will learn to cook.”
“That’s what scientists concluded from a study that could help explain how and when early humans first began cooking their food.”
“This suggests that as soon as fire was controlled, cooking could have ramped up,” says Alexandra Rosati, an evolutionary biologist at Yale and a co-author of the study . . . First, the researchers gave the chimps a device that appeared to work like an oven.”
“Before he ate them, Kanzi cooked the vegetables in a pan on his own.”
“When researchers gave them a cooked potato slice, they simply ate it. But when they got a raw carrot, they immediately put it in the device. And their preference for cooked food was so strong that they would hold on to raw potatoes, or carry them to other locations, in order to have them cooked.”
“The new study suggests that even back then, our ancestors had brains that were ready to barbecue, Wrangham says. “All they needed, I think, would be to see a piece of food drop in the fire, pick it out and realize that it tasted good, and then the cultural transmission of that behavior would spread very quickly,” Wrangham says.”
“The study also offers a reminder that very few behaviors are uniquely human, Wrangham says. “What we’re seeing here is that the chimps are surprisingly similar to humans, even though the whole process of cooking seems like something that is a huge divide between humans and other animals.”
Read the entire article by Jon Hamilton:
Another gem from Judy.. Thanks.. My haiku are waiting for your visits.. Leo has started another Meme.. A Prompt Each Day… Hope you will contribute too..
RS:)
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Ramesh,
I shall steal your “gem from Judy” for my posts – it has a certain panache (as only you have).
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I remember seeing a movie, ratatouille, where a chef said, anyone can cook. Even a mouse! 🙂
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Ompong – The image of a mouse cooking in MY kitchen is a bit unnerving . . . too much saturated fat. They use a lot of cheese in their cuisine.
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Hahaha! 🙂
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Fascinating studies, and yet my husband has barely mastered the microwave. Maybe that qualifies – he’s on a par with apes.
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Shari B-P,
NOW THAT’S a funny comment! Thanks for helping me laugh today!
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I learned that from Jane Goodall–every measure of humanness fell to her field observations.
I haven’t heard this one, but am not surprised. These chimps (including all Great Apes) are quite clever. What they don’t have–it appears–is that sense of adventure that sent Homo habilis and Homo sapiens far and wide in search of the horizon. Chimps (and Great Apes) seem to like their habitat green and leafy.
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Jacqui,
I like your comment that chimps like green and leafy habitats. Perhaps they are smarter than us humans who are not satisfied with what we have or try to survive in desert climes.
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