If a chimp of average intelligence is about as intelligent as your average 3 year old, what’s the barrier keeping a truly exceptional chimp from being as bright as an average adult?

Question

That’s pretty much it. I searched, but I didn’t find anything that addressed my exact question.

It’s frequently said that chimps have the intelligence of a 3 year old human. But some 3 year olds are smarter than others, just like some animals are smarter than others of the same species. So why haven’t we come across a chimp with the intelligence of a 10 year old? Like…still pretty dumb, but able to fully use and comprehend written language. Is it likely that this “Hawking chimp” has already existed, but since we don’t put forth much effort educating (most) apes we just haven’t noticed? Or is there something else going on, maybe some genetic barrier preventing them from ever truly achieving sapience? I’m not expecting an ape to write an essay on Tolstoy, but it seems like as smart as we know these animals to be we should’ve found one that could read and comprehend, for instance, The Hungry Caterpillar as written in plain english.

In: Biology

Answer 1

The average 3 year old line is a useful comparison, but you’re taking it too literally. It’s like when someone is pregnant and they say the fetus is the size of X fruit at each stage – that doesn’t mean it’s exactly that sized, and it certainly doesn’t mean it’s literally that fruit.

In short while it’s a useful laymans comparison – chimps simply don’t have the same level of potential capability as a human. There is a ceiling there which is much lower than humans. So while a human 3 year old can be very bright and act more like a 4 or 5 year old, chimps hit their ceiling long before that.