Being able to talk to apes only seems like a concept possible in the namesake Planet of the Apes film franchise.
However, one American YouTuber seems to have cracked the code.
Content creator Xiaomanyc is a polyglot, a term used for someone who knows and can use several languages. In Xiaomanyc’s case, he knows dozens.
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In a new experiment, Xiaomanyc wanted to utilize the fact that one particular type of ape — Bonobos — are the closest living relatives to human beings, along with chimpanzees today, their DNA almost being 99% identical to ours.
Plenty of attempts have been made to try and teach apes human language, but the YouTuber notes that this has rarely been done the other way around. In light of this, Xiaomanyc — also known as Xiaoma — spent weeks studying ape vocalization and gestures to communicate with bonobos on their terms.
When visiting a bonobo research center in Des Moine, Iowa, Xiaoma met different members of the seven different apes on site and tested various techniques to try and convince them he’s one himself.
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After easing into it with simpler methods first, it’s safe to say the apes were eventually shocked with the Americans’ expertise. In particular, one of the apes — Kanzi — was shocked that Xiaomanyc knew how to demonstrate a bonobo’s love for showing feet and doing the same.
Later in the video, he met with the second group of bonobos; Maisha, Clara, Mali, and Elikya; and expressed vocalizations so genuine, they were fully convinced the American was one of them. As the door to the demo room was opened to reveal Xiaoma, the bonobos were fully confused, believing they thought they heard one of their own.
With communications so on-point, he was able to reach a subtle relationship with some of them that would take others years to do so.
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The researcher who accompanied Xiaomanyc through his visit was thoroughly impressed. She said: “I think they were really surprised. I think you fooled them!”.
“So, I think a lot of the time, people wanna interact with them like you would interact with another human and it was so refreshing to have you come in and be like ‘I am gonna learn their language and see if they can pick up’, which I think they really did”, she added.
Xiaomanyc made the video as part of an effort to help Ape Initiative raise awareness and funds to help save the Bonobos, who are massively endangered in the wild. The video is said to have raised $8000 for the non-profit organization.