Can apes play pretend? Scientists use an imaginary tea party to find out

A new experiment hints that an ape may be able to play pretend like humans do. Scientists studied a bonobo named Kanzi who was raised in captivity and became a whiz at communicating with humans using graphic symbols. They found he was able to track the locations of imaginary juice poured into separate cups and could also tell the difference between real and imagined juice. But not all scientists are convinced that Kanzi is maintaining false pretenses like humans do. They say his abilities may be because of his special upbringing. The study was published Thursday in the journal Science.