An orangutan can grow to be over 260 lb. (118 kg) so how does one construct its nest up high in the trees? With great engineering skills, of course:
The researchers, led by scientists at the University of Manchester, followed and filmed the apes in the forests of Sumatra. The team also took orangutans' nests apart to see how they were constructed. Their study, in the journal PNAS, reveals that the apes select thick branches for a scaffold and thinner branches for a springy mattress.
Roland Ennos from the University of Manchester, a senior member of the research team, told BBC Nature that the behaviour revealed the animals' "sophisticated tool use and construction skills".
"They show a lot of engineering know-how in how they build their nests," he said.
As anyone who has ever tried to snap a live twig from a tree will know, living, green branches do not snap cleanly in half. Dr Ennos explained that the animals "made use" of this, bending and weaving large, flexible branches into a strong nest scaffold. The animals then filled this scaffold with fine, leafy branches - making a comfortable bed.
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Amazing tech. I feel it will be a while till we easily understand the brain but.
Exactly my point Watson. While phrenology is a pseudo science that totally failed to understand the complexity of the human mind, so this will fail to ra ra ra.
However I do accept that this may be real science.
I like the cut of your jib.