Scientists consider bonobos (our close relatives) to be one of Earth’s most intelligent species.
Kanzi was a famous bonobo. He lived at a research center called Ape Initiative in Des Moines, Iowa. He was born at a research center in Georgia in 1980 and died in March 2025 at age 44.
Scientists learned a great deal about bonobo intelligence by working with Kanzi.
Kanzi first learned to communicate with humans at Georgia State University. Kanzi could understand spoken English. He communicated with people through a lexigram, a board with symbols that represent specific messages.
Kanzi used the symbols on his lexigram to describe things around him. Once Kanzi had a beaver visit his outdoor habitat. He found the beaver scary and described it with the symbols “water” and “gorilla.”
When Kanzi was 8 years old, he did better than a 2-year-old human child on a test of spoken instructions.
Kanzi has been described online as the world’s smartest ape. While humans first taught him to use stone tools, Kanzi invented his own method of sharpening stones. This earned him the title of “bonobo genius.”
Kanzi even learned how to play Minecraft.
Bonobos are an endangered species. Wild bonobos live in only one small area of the Congo rainforest in Central Africa. Kanzi taught people a lot about the intelligence of his species and why helping conserve bonobos and their rainforest habitat is important.
David Brown adapted this story for Mongabay Kids. It is based on an article published by Kristine Sabillo, published on Mongabay News.
