Humans aren't the only species that can pretend, a study shows. Scientists offered a bonobo imaginary juice and grapes in a ...

Children love to play pretend, holding imaginary tea parties, educating classrooms of teddies or running their own grocery stores. Now, a new study suggests that such make-believe play is not a ...

A bonobo named Kanzi surprised scientists by successfully playing along in pretend tea party experiments, tracking imaginary juice and grapes as if they were real. He consistently pointed to the ...

Apes, like humans, are capable of pretend play, challenging long-held views about how animals think, a new study suggests.

Discover how an ape playing tea party teaches us humans are not the only beings with complex mental lives.

New study reveals our closest relatives share the cognitive roots of imagination and pretense. Remember childhood tea parties ...

Little kids hosting make-believe tea parties is a fixture of childhood playtime and long presumed to be exclusively a human ...

In the first demonstration of pretend play in a non-human, the ape favoured a cup filled with imaginary juice over one with ...

It has long been known that apes can plan ahead and consider the beliefs of other individuals, but no reproducible evidence ...

The ability to imagine -- to play pretend -- has long been thought to be unique to humans. A new study suggests certain apes may be able to as well.

Past anecdotal observations have hinted that great apes play pretend. But now, experimental research shows that our closest living relatives can keep track of imaginary objects.

Amalia Bastos first met Kanzi the bonobo in 2023. Bastos was “starstruck,” she recalls: Kanzi was famous for learning how to ...