Can apes take IQ tests? Explore how scientists study chimp, bonobo, gorilla, and orangutan intelligence with famous cases like Kanzi and Koko.
When people talk about IQ tests, they usually think of human brains, paper-and-pencil questions, and scores neatly summed up into a single number. But what about our closest relatives in the animal kingdom? Can apes—chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans—take IQ tests? And if so, what would they score?
The short answer: not exactly. You can’t hand a chimpanzee a Stanford-Binet test and expect meaningful results. But researchers have developed special test batteries for apes that give us fascinating insights into their minds.
Why Apes Can’t Take Human IQ Tests
Human IQ exams measure things like vocabulary, reading comprehension, and culturally specific logic puzzles. These are meaningless to apes, who don’t share our language or cultural framework.
Instead, scientists have designed ape-appropriate cognitive tasks that test abilities such as:
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Memory – remembering where food is hidden
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Numerical skills – picking the larger pile of fruit
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Problem-solving – using tools to retrieve rewards
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Causal reasoning – understanding how pulling a string brings food closer
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Social intelligence – following gestures or gaze
Rather than producing a single “IQ score,” these tests reveal a cognitive profile of strengths and weaknesses.
Famous Attempts at Ape “IQ Testing”
🧪 The Primate Cognition Test Battery (PCTB)
In the 2000s, researchers developed the PCTB to test great apes and compare them with human toddlers. The findings?
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Apes perform as well as 2-year-old children on many physical reasoning tasks.
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But by age 3, human kids leap ahead, especially in social cognition (understanding others’ intentions, learning through teaching).
🪞 The Mirror Test
Chimps, orangutans, and bonobos usually recognize themselves in mirrors—a sign of self-awareness. Gorillas sometimes pass, though it varies. While not an IQ test, this famous experiment shows a capacity for reflective thought.
🎮 The Memory Test at Kyoto University
At Kyoto University, young chimpanzees shocked the world by beating humans in a working memory game. On a touchscreen, numbers flashed briefly and disappeared, and the chimps had to tap them in order. They often outperformed university students!
🛠️ Tool Use and Problem-Solving
Apes are masters of improvisation: chimps use sticks to fish for termites, orangutans craft umbrellas from leaves, and bonobos can figure out multi-step puzzles. These abilities reflect what humans call fluid intelligence—the power to solve new problems.
Celebrity Apes of Cognition Research
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Kanzi the Bonobo – Learned to use a lexigram keyboard (symbols representing words) to communicate with humans. He could understand hundreds of spoken English words and respond meaningfully.
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Ai the Chimpanzee – At Kyoto University, Ai demonstrated advanced number memory and understanding of numerical order.
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Washoe the Chimpanzee – Famously taught American Sign Language, showing that apes can learn elements of human-style symbolic communication.
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Koko the Gorilla – Known for her sign language abilities and emotional depth, Koko demonstrated that gorillas can grasp complex ideas like “love” and “sadness.”
These individual stories highlight just how varied ape intelligence can be.
So, Do Apes Have an IQ?
Not in the human sense. But apes clearly possess remarkable cognitive abilities, some of which overlap with human intelligence. If we were to translate their test results into an “IQ,” it would be misleading—because apes excel in areas where humans don’t (like lightning-fast memory tasks), while lacking in language and abstract reasoning.
Instead of thinking about ape IQ as a single number, scientists emphasize their cognitive toolkit—a set of abilities that help them thrive in their environments.
Final Thoughts
Apes can’t sit for an official IQ test, but the experiments over the past century show they are far more intelligent, self-aware, and adaptable than once thought. Their skills in memory, tool use, and communication remind us that intelligence takes many forms—and that our own species’ “IQ” is just one unique expression of it.
So next time you hear someone dismiss animal intelligence, remember Kanzi’s keyboard, Ai’s memory, or Koko’s signs. They may not have an IQ score, but their minds shine in ways that challenge what it means to be “smart.”
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