14 DAY TRIAL // Several previous experiments have shown that, much like humans, apes have the ability to remember past events. What's interesting is that, according to recent investigations, they can also predict the future.
Rest assured, when researchers say that apes can anticipate future events, they don't mean that they do it in a Nostradamus sort of way. What they mean is that these animals plan some of their future actions, and even prepare for them.
This behavior has thus far been documented in male orangutans living in Sumatra, EurekAlert reports.
After spending some time monitoring these apes, researchers at the University of Zurich found that, one day before embarking on a journey, they emit calls towards their direction of travel. Otherwise put, they announce their route.
This gives female orangutans that might be interested in meeting them the chance to arrange their schedules in such ways that they would cross paths.
It also warns potential competitors that it would probably be best for them to keep away from that particular part of the forest.
The scientific community has long been aware of the fact that male orangutans emit such calls. However, it took a while for researchers to figure out that the apes purposely send them in one direction or the other.
“We actually observed that the males traveled for several hours in approximately the same direction as they had called,” researcher Carel van Schaik summed up the findings of this investigation.
“Our study makes it clear that wild orangutans do not simply live in the here and now, but can imagine a future and even announce their plans,” the specialist went on to say.
It is understood that, in light of these findings, it can be said that orangutans resemble humans much more than previously believed.
“In this sense [planing future needs], then, they have become a bit more like us,” specialist Carel van Schaik said.