CEFR Level: A2 (Elementary)

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Bonobo Named Kanzi Can Pretend Like Children

February 2026 — Scientists made an exciting discovery. A bonobo can use imagination, just like human children!

Who Is Kanzi?

Kanzi is a 43-year-old bonobo. Bonobos are great apes, similar to chimpanzees. Kanzi lives at the Ape Initiative in America.

Kanzi is special. He understands many English words. He can communicate using more than 300 symbols.

The Tea Party Experiment

Scientists from Johns Hopkins University did an experiment. They wanted to know: can apes pretend?

Here is what they did: 1. They placed two empty cups on a table 2. They pretended to pour juice into one cup 3. They pretended to pour the “juice” back out 4. They asked Kanzi: “Where is the juice?”

Kanzi pointed to the correct cup 68% of the time! He understood the pretend game.

Real vs. Pretend

The scientists did another test. They put real juice in one cup. The other cup was empty.

Kanzi chose the real juice almost 78% of the time. This shows he knows the difference between real and pretend.

Why Does This Matter?

People thought imagination was only for humans. Young children love pretend games, like tea parties. Now we know apes can imagine too.

This discovery changes how we understand animal minds.

Vocabulary Help

• bonobo = a great ape, similar to a chimpanzee
• pretend = to act like something is true when it is not
• imagination = the ability to think about things that are not real
• experiment = a test to discover something new
• communicate = to share information with others

Grammar Focus

• Simple past tense: “Scientists made a discovery.” / “They placed two cups.”
• Can + verb: “Kanzi can pretend.” / “He can communicate using symbols.”