Nyota, a 25-year-old male bonobo at Ape Initiative in Iowa, participated in the study. Ape InitiativeIf someone is supposed to give you a snack, but you know that they dont know where that snack is, you wouldobviouslycommunicate its location to them.While this might feel ordinary to us, it demonstrates the ability to understand another persons specific lack of information and act accordingly. This concept is called the theory of mind, and because its involved in many sophisticated human behaviors, scholars have long debated whether close human relatives might also have this capacity.In a bid to resolve this issue, cognitive scientists Christopher Krupenye and Luke Townrow of Johns Hopkins University worked with three male bonobos named Nyota, Kanzi and Teco at the research institute Ape Initiative in Iowa.For their study, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a bonobo would watch someone place a treat beneath one of three cups in proximity to Townrow. Sometimes, Townrow did not see which cup hid the treat, but the bonobo could only have the treat if Townrow gave it to him.We established a co-operative context to this task, because if I knew whether the treat or the food item was hidden, I would reveal it and then the bonobo would be able to receive that as a reward, Townrow tells NPRsNell Greenfieldboyce.We predicted that if apes are really tracking ignorance, when their partners lacked knowledge they would be pointing more often and more quickly, and thats exactly what they did, Krupenye explains in a statement.After the treat was hidden from view, Townrow would ask the bonobo where the food was, then wait ten seconds. If the bonobo had witnessed Townrow observing the placement of the grape, he would generally wait for the researcher to hand it over. If, however, the bonobo had witnessed the grape placement taking place without Townrows knowledge, he would quickly point to the correct cup.Apes point out hidden treats only when humans are unaware of their locationWatch on The bonobos knew when their partner was ignorant, and they communicated proactively to make sure that their ignorant partner still made the correct choice, Krupenye tells Scientific Americans Jack Tamisiea. This shows that they can actually take action when they realize that somebody has a different perspective from their own, he adds to New Scientists Sophie Berdugo.Wild chimpanzeeswhich are also great apes and close human relativesappear to give warnings to groupmates that havent seen a nearby threat, according to previous research. But the new work is the first study to replicate similar behavior in a controlled setting. It also seems to show that apes can simultaneously hold two conflicting world views in their mind, Krupenye says in the statement: They know where the food is, and they know their partner doesnt.If humans and other great apes possess the theory of mind, it would indicate that the ability to understand and act upon anothers ignorance might have developed in our last common ancestor millions of years ago.It suggests that our ancient human relatives likely also had these abilities and could use them to bolster cooperation and coordination with one another, Laura Lewis, a biological anthropologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the research, tells New Scientist. It also shows that complex language is not a crucial component to this ability, she adds to Scientific American.Moving forward, Krupenye and Townrow hope to investigate how apes think about others minds, as opposed to just their actions. What weve shown here is that apes will communicate with a partner to change their behavior, Townrow says in the statement. But a key open question for further research is whether apes are also pointing to change their partners mental state or their beliefs.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Anthropology, Apes, Brain, Communication, Human Evolution, Mammals, New Research, Primates, Social Sciences