I find this oddly life affirming...

There is a school of thought, popular when I was a young man, that believed a whole raft of things about animals and humans which made us unique.

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One of those "unique things" just went in the way of the Dodo.  In this case, we have found a Chimpanzee that does "forward planning".  That is he lays concrete plans out to take action to a stimulus that might not come.

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What do I find amusing in this?

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Our boy Santiono here doesn't like being disturbed by visitors in the morning.  So at night he would gather piles of rocks or break up the concrete.  He would put piles of "ammunition" in the area closest to the visitors.  And, the next day when the zoo opened, he would throw them at visitors that were too loud too early.

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Let me just add, this is about the best evidence I have seen for "intelligent design".  I mean evolution can explain a lot, but a chimp that is cranky in the morning and knows what to do about it?  Come on, that needs help.

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I quote a little from the story....

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Santino, a 31-year-old male at Furuvik zoo in Sweden, may be the first animal to exhibit an unambiguous ability to plan for the future, a behaviour many scientists argue is unique to humans. Forward planning takes considerable cognitive skills, because it requires an animal to envisage future events it will have to deal with.

Santino would get agitated when the first groups of visitors arrived at his enclosure in the morning, and would start hurling stones at the spectators. When the zookeepers investigated, they found that, while the zoo was closed, Santino had been busy making piles of ammunition, and returned to them to resupply.

To catch the chimp in action, one zookeeper hid in a room overlooking the enclosure and observed the ape's behaviour before the zoo gates opened each morning. She saw Santino dragging stones from a protective moat that surrounded his island home, before placing them in piles. Further covert surveillance of the ape revealed he spent some time tapping areas of concrete floor with his fist. Occasionally, the animal would thump harder, releasing chunks of concrete that he broke into rough discs.

A survey of the enclosure showed that Santino made piles of ammunition only on the quarter of the island's shore that faced the visiting crowds.