TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A new research revealed that chimpanzees raised by humans are no cleverer than those raised in natural way by their mother chimp. The study that was done by Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, United States, has proven that genes largely determine a chimp's intelligence and human intervention makes no difference to it.
Previous studies have suggested that genetics account for around a quarter to a half of variations in human intelligence. The new intelligence test conducted on 99 chimps in range of 9 to 54 years old showed that genes explained about 50 percent of the differences seen in their intelligence test scores.
“Chimps offer a really simple way of thinking about how genes might influence intelligence without, in essence, the baggage of these other mechanisms that are confounded with genes in research on human intelligence,” Study leader Dr William Hopkins, from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, US, said as quoted by The Telegraph.
RINDU P. HESTYA | THE TELEGRAPH