GINA gestured for the banana. When Erica offered her a stick of celery instead, single mother Gina, 42, impatiently gestured again. When Erica held up the banana, Gina clapped. She’s better behaved than Theodora, a feisty teenager who throws sand when she is misunderstood.
Gina and Theodora are orang-utans, two of six females that have now been found to communicate with gestures in the same way as people do when playing the game charades. Erica Cartmill and Richard Byrne at the University of St Andrews, UK, presented the apes with a tasty and not-so-tasty food item that could only be…
