One of the most striking biological similarities between chimpanzees and humans is brain structure.
The chimpanzee, with the capacity for primitive reasoning, exhibits a type of intelligence more like that of a human than does any
other mammal living. Today, chimpanzee intelligence is exhibited in making and using tools, in dominance displays, and was quite
evident at Gombe as the chimps found novel ways to get bananas from special locked boxes that Dr. Jane and other researchers used while
habituating the chimpanzees.
Jane's observation:
Mike's deliberate use of man-made objects was probably an indication of superior intelligence. Many of the adult males
had at some time or another dragged a kerosene can to enhance their charging displays in place of the more normal branches or rocks; but only
Mike apparently had been able to profit from the chance experience and learn to seek out the cans deliberately to his own advantage. The cans,
of course, made several times more noise than a branch when dragged along the ground at speed, and eventually Mike was able to keep three
cans ahead of him at once for about 60 yards as he ran flat-out across the camp clearing. No wonder that males previously his superiors rushed
out of Mike's way.
