Study Finds Bonobos Capable of Human-Like Pretend Play, Accompanied by Satirical News Snippets
By
The Onion Staff
Crisp on the outside, thoughtful on the inside. A keeper.
Summary
The article appears to be a satirical piece that combines a legitimate scientific study about bonobo pretend play with absurd, unrelated news snippets. The core scientific content describes a study published in Science showing that a bonobo named Kanzi can engage in pretend play similar to human children, imagining and tracking invisible objects like juice and grapes. However, this is interspersed with nonsensical headlines about various unrelated topics including a mailman wanting to be chased, chardonnay vomited into an NPR tote, and a vibrator left on all night.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledA study published in Science found that a bonobo named Kanzi could play along when researchers offered him invisible juice and grapes in a manner akin to a child's make-believe tea party
concluding that the primate could imagine and track the nonexistent objects being manipulated
Mailman Strongly Hinting He Wants To Be Chased
Chardonnay Vomited Into NPR Tote
Vibrator Left On All Night
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