Researchers find poop-throwing by chimps is a sign of intelligence
In proof that even politicians share a common ancestor with chimpanzees, Emory University reports that throwing feces is a sign of smarts in captive chimps.
Surprisingly, they found that chimps that both threw more and were more likely to hit their targets showed heightened development in the motor cortex, and more connections between it and the Broca’s area, which they say is an important part of speech in humans. The better chimp throwers, in other words, had more highly developed left brain hemispheres, which is also, non-coincidently, where speech processing occurs in people.
Such findings led the term to suggest that the ability to throw is, or was, a precursor to speech development in human beings.
So being able to throw things well is a sign of higher-order brain development? Then why did Dan Marino score a 16 on the Wonderlich Test?
(via PhysOrg)
