• Question: Do you that monkeys will evolve so that they will be able to talk in future years ? i think monkeys are facinating animals and i think it would be unreal to be able to have the crack with one

    Asked by thedazinator to Andrew on 16 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Andrew Jackson

      Andrew Jackson answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      hi

      Its possible i guess, but with humans around i think this is unlikely to happen naturally, as the monkeys and apes dont need language to get by in their forests and grasslands, and humans occupy the rest of the world so there is no where else for them to go and eventually evolve different societies and language.

      One option that might be an interesting experiment would be to try to breed come apes to see can we evolve them in the laboratory. But, this would probably mean keeping chimps or bonobos in a lab or in captivity in large numbers so might not be very sensible.

      More likely is that our technology will allow us to communicate with them better. Already scientists are training chimps to use ipads to ask for food and other things. We might even some day be able to read their brains using clever electronic equipment. That would be very cool.

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