Great apes: What we know about their cognition, cooperation and curiosity after two decades of research

Phys · 🇩🇪 public Germany · Jun 03, 2026 · 845 words · By Alejandro Sánchez-Amaro

headphones Listen to the eFinder podcast briefing

Ready to play

Daily briefing

What to know about Great apes: What we know about their cognition, cooperation and curiosity after two decades of research

The article discusses the development of EVApeCognition, a comprehensive database of great ape research from the Leipzig Zoo, aimed at understanding the role of personality and social history in cognition. It highlights a shift toward larger-group studies to better simulate wild environments and mentions other global projects contributing to primate research.

Propaganda risk 0%

Claims checked 18

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center83%

Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Great apes: What we know about their cognition, cooperation and curiosity after two decades of research Robert Egan Associate Editor Leipzig Zoo in central Germany is a world-leading center of great ape research.

Why it matters

Recent studies have seen chimpanzees there using touchscreen controls to navigate virtual forests and locate food rewards—applying similar techniques to what they would use in the wild.

Common ground

Other research (of which I was part) has investigated chimpanzees' social curiosity.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Great apes: What we know about their cognition, cooperation and curiosity after two decades of research?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that The global ManyPrimates project, established in 2017, has already produced the most comprehensive overview of primate short-term memory?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-06-great-apes-cognition-cooperation-curiosity.html

analyticsAnalysis

Propaganda Score

confidence: 100%

Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 18 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 8

check_circle Corroborated 7

help Insufficient Evidence 2

info Single Source 1

schedule

Claim 1: “The global ManyPrimates project, established in 2017, has already produced the most comprehensive overview of primate short-term memory.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

check_circle

Claim 2: “Leipzig Zoo in central Germany is a world-leading center of great ape research.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results, including Yahoo News UK and other reports, explicitly state that Leipzig Zoo is a world-leading center of great ape research.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Leipzig Zoo in central Germany is a world-leading centre of great ape research. Recent studies have seen chimpanzees there using touchscreen controls to navigate virtual forests and locate food reward…
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/great-apes-know-cognition-cooperat…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Zoo Leipzig sits just north of Leipzig’s city center, near Leipzig Hauptbahnhof and the Rosental green space, around 1km from the historic core. Pfaffendorfer Straße 29, 04105 Leipzig, Germany.
https://www.leipzig-tickets.com/zoo-leipzig/plan-your-visit/

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — A total of 34 great apes -- chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans -- took part in the research at the Leipzig Zoo in Germany. In the false belief portion, the apes chose the correct box significantly mo…
https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/article/great-apes-know-when…

help

Claim 3: “Social tolerance played a key role, with more tolerant quartets maintaining access to the yogurt for longer periods.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to specifically confirm the role of social tolerance in the yogurt pool study.

schedule

Claim 4: “A 2025 study showed they remained committed to an initial belief when counter-evidence was weaker, but revised this when the supporting evidence became stronger”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

check_circle

Claim 5: “Recent studies have seen chimpanzees there using touchscreen controls to navigate virtual forests and locate food rewards”

CORROBORATED

The claim is explicitly mentioned in multiple web search results, including Yahoo News UK, describing chimpanzees using touchscreen controls to navigate virtual forests for food rewards.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Beijing Zoo is a zoological park in Xizhimen, Xicheng District, Beijing. Founded in 1906 during the late Qing dynasty, it is the oldest zoo in China and oldest public park in northern China. The zoo …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Zoo

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The bonobo (; Pan paniscus), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee (less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee), is the smallest species of great ape and one of the two making up th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Leipzig Zoological Garden, or Leipzig Zoo (German: Zoologischer Garten Leipzig), is a zoo in the Leipzig borough of Mitte, locality Zentrum-Nordwest, Germany. It was first opened on June 9, 1878. It w…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leipzig_Zoological_Garden

+ 3 more evidence sources

check_circle

Claim 6: “EVApeCognition comprises 262 experimental datasets from 150 scientific publications between 2004 and 2021.”

CORROBORATED

Three separate web search results explicitly confirm the database comprises 262 experimental datasets from 150 scientific publications between 2004 and 2021.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — In all, EVApeCognition comprises 262 experimental datasets from 150 scientific publications between 2004 and 2021. These were all overseen by the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Centre, headquartered…
https://theconversation.com/great-apes-what-we-know-about-th…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Addressing these limitations, the newly unveiled EVApeCognition dataset amalgamates experimental data from over 260 studies conducted over an 18-year period, integrating findings from approximately 15…
https://bioengineer.org/groundbreaking-ape-cognition-dataset…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The result is 262 experimental datasets drawn from 150 publications, spanning 18 years of research at the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center in Leipzig. The cognitive domains covered are wide.
https://www.primatology.net/p/what-81-apes-can-tell-us-about…

check_circle

Claim 7: “Our most recent study, led by Kirsten Sutherland at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, found that great ape quartets maintained access to a pool of yogurt for significantly longer than pairs did.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm a study led by Kirsten Sutherland involving great ape quartets maintaining access to a yogurt pool longer than pairs.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 3, 2026 ... Our most recent study, led by Kirsten Sutherland ... quartets maintained access to a pool of yogurt for significantly longer than pairs did.
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-great-apes-cognition-cooperati…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 4, 2026 ... Fifteen Pan troglodytes at the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Centre in Leipzig were given sticks and a pool of yogurt. The sticks held up a ...
https://www.primatology.net/p/when-the-boss-eats-last-chimpa…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jan 26, 2026 ... The experiment was deceptively simple. Groups of chimpanzees were presented with a pool of yogurt, accessed by dipping sticks. The same sticks ...
https://www.primatology.net/p/when-sharing-becomes-survival-…

check_circle

Claim 8: “These were all overseen by the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Centre, headquartered at Leipzig Zoo.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources, including the Max Planck Institute and other reports, confirm the studies were overseen by the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Centre at Leipzig Zoo.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The EVApeCognition Database is the largest open-access database of great ape cognition worldwide. It contains data from 150 great ape cognition studies published between 2004 and 2021. All studies wer…
https://www.eva.mpg.de/comparative-cultural-psychology/study…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Leipzig Zoo in central Germany is a world-leading center of great ape research. Recent studies have seen chimpanzees there using touchscreen controls to navigate virtual forests and locate food reward…
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-great-apes-cognition-cooperati…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Collected primarily at the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Centre, a long-standing hub for comparative cognition research established by the Max Planck Institute and Leipzig Zoo, the data reflects st…
https://bioengineer.org/groundbreaking-ape-cognition-dataset…

schedule

Claim 9: “The wild individuals responded far more cautiously to novelty than their zoo-housed counterparts.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 10: “We discovered they actively seek out information about others' interactions, even if it means forgoing food rewards.”

SINGLE SOURCE

While there is general evidence about chimpanzee social behavior and food sharing, the specific claim about prioritizing information about others' interactions over food rewards in the context of these specific studies is not corroborated by multiple independent sources in the provided evidence.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The chimpanzee, also simply known as the chimp, is a species of medium-sized great ape found along the forested belt of equatorial Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Because chimpanzees actively share food only rarely, their apparatus was a bit different: if the lucky individual wanted to protect her bounty, she could do so, but if she did nothing, the other could…
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4302252/

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Chimpanzees will sometimes groom others strategically before requesting favors, such as food sharing or support during conflicts. This “grooming for politics” demonstrates a sophisticated understandin…
https://discoverwildscience.com/chimpanzee-culture-and-commu…

schedule

Claim 11: “This shows that genetic lineage has played a larger role than ecology or sociality in the evolution of their short-term memory.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 12: “We found that cooperation was strongest when the highest-ranking individual showed restraint”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to specifically confirm the finding regarding the restraint of the highest-ranking individual.

schedule

Claim 13: “chimpanzees update their beliefs by considering all sources of information before making a choice.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 14: “Research led by Sofie Forss at the University of Zurich, for example, has found a systematic "captivity effect" when presenting the same new stimuli to both wild and captive orangutans.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 15: “Bonobos—which, unlike chimpanzees, are known to cooperate in the wild outside the limits of their group's territory”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 16: “chimpanzees dominate the record, while bonobos, gorillas and orangutans remain comparatively underrepresented.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

check_circle

Claim 17: “Eighty-one great apes participated in these studies, with the vast majority (78) taking part in more than one.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (including a PDF and news reports) confirm that 81 great apes participated and 78 of them took part in more than one study.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Ape cognition over time: The dataset includes 81 great apes, most of whom participated in more than one study, creating rare opportunities to examine long-term and developmental patterns.
https://www.mpg.de/26395591/largest-open-dataset-of-great-ap…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Eighty-one great apes participated in these studies, with the vast majority (78) taking part in more than one. These wide-ranging social cognition studies have assessed how great apes think about othe…
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-great-apes-cognition-cooperati…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Eighty-one apes participated in 150 studies, with a majority (N = 78) participating in more than one study.A total of 81 individual apes participated in these studies. between 2001 and 2019. Apes’ par…
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/403654679_EVApeCogn…

check_circle

Claim 18: “my colleagues and I have developed EVApeCognition: a standardized database of 18 years' worth of great ape experiences, decisions and relationships.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources (Nature, Scientific Data, and other web results) confirm the existence of EVApeCognition as an 18-year dataset of great ape cognition.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Apr 9, 2026 ... The study of great ape cognition offers insights into the evolutionary origins of human intelligence, but is hindered by small sample sizes ...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-026-07191-6

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Eighty-one apes participated in 150 studies, with a majority (N = 78) participating in more than one study. Publication of the dataset aims to make these unique ...
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/403654679_EVApeCogn…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Dec 20, 2023 ... Over the last 5 years we have assembled and standardized data ... EVApeCognition: An 18-Year Dataset of Great Ape Cognition - Scientific Data.
https://www.facebook.com/fox6news/posts/researchers-tested-2…

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.