Faces and fingers: dogs vs chimps!

01 October 2011

Do dogs or chimps read the expressions on our faces better? Do dogs or chimps better interpret a human pointing with a finger? Two current documentaries address these kinds of issues, amongst other issues:

"The Secret Life of the Dog" shown on SBS September 2011

"Project Nim" is a movie currently in cinemas

The 'Secret Life of the Dog' examines the adaptation of dogs through domestication. Unlike chimps they have the unique ability to look at human faces and understand our facial expressions. They also uniquely comprehend what humans mean when they point with their finger. Despite our 94% DNA commonality with chimps (which was previously thought to be 98.5% or 99%), dogs can read our faces and finger better than chimps!

"Project Nim" is about scientific study of a chimp that was raised as a human for its first few years, including breast feeding from a human woman. How unique are humans? Do other creatures besides humans communicate by "language"? These questions were addressed by the study but the documentary focuses on the ethical issues of the study and the impact on the people involved and also the impact on chimp involved.