Take Hopkins' finding that apes are left-brained like humans, or de Waal's experiments that suggest certain primates developed frameworks for morality. Animals enter the debate in a way that's very important. And that's critical. The idea behind Living Links is to use Yerkes' 200 chimpanzees and more than 2,500 other primates to help move these theories from speculation to science. One chief project will be identifying ape genes to match with the neurologic and behavior findings.
Language is one critical difference.
Hopkins' brain scans found that orangutans, gorillas, chimps and bonobos all were left-brained, too. Monkeys, lower on the evolutionary scale, were not. Of course, apes don't speak. So Hopkins' excited colleagues immediately began testing what the discovery means. They gave language-related tasks to chimps trained to communicate via computer, monitoring them with PET scans that light up the brain cells being used.