Great apes: what we know about their cognition, cooperation and curiosity after two decades of research

A chimpanzee sits in the Pongoland enclosure at Leipzig Zoo, where a huge amount of research has been conducted since 2004. Marco Warm/Shutterstock

Leipzig Zoo in central Germany is a world-leading centre of great ape research. Recent studies have seen chimpanzees there using touchscreen controls to navigate virtual forests and locate food rewards – applying similar techniques to what they would use in the wild.

Other research (of which I was part) has investigated chimpanzees’ social curiosity. We discovered they actively seek out information about others’ interactions, even if it means forgoing food rewards. Keeping track of their peers’ latest social developments appears central to these great apes’ social wellbeing.