[Jeff Higgins]

In a similar vein, I read the journals of both W. D. M. "Karamojo" Bell and John "Pondoro" Taylor years ago (I just can't remember which one contained this story). Anyway, both were very prolific elephant hunters / poachers; Bell between the wars and Taylor during and after WWII. Both lived in the African bush for 30 years or more. Both had a lot to say about the intelligence of chimps. This tory in particular is illustrative.

Our hunter was, at this time, in the thicker jungles of the western parts of Africa. He had hired locals (pygmies, actually) as porters, guides, and camp help. Along the way he had picked up a young chimp as a pet and companion. It was orphaned or something. Anyway, as it got older, it started showing a michieveous side. It knew how to open, and would get into, his food stores, like canned goods and the like. He finally took to chaining it up when he couldn't watch it. It soon figured out how to unhook itself, so he had to resort to a pad lock. When he wanted to let it off the chain, he figured he could simply give the key to one of his camp helpers and send him to unlock the chimp. Problem was, they couldn't seem to keep track of the key. So he hung it around the chimp's neck. Next thing he knew, the chimp was running free at will. He had figured out how to use the key. He could not believe it, and demanded to know who had taught the chimp that little trick. It turned out no one had; none of them could figure out the lock, so they just gave the key to the chimp, who unlocked himself. After having only seen it maybe once or twice; from there on he had been doing it himself. He never was able to teach any of the pygmies how to do it. Finally, he just kept the key again, and when he wanted his little buddy off the chain, would give the key to the helper, who would give it to the chimp, who would unlock himself and unfailing bring back the key. Pretty amazing story. I don't think the results of these modern day tests would surprise these guys in the least.