The famous chimpanzee, who could identify more than 100 Chinese characters, the English alphabet and Arabic numerals from zero to nine, died after organ failure.
Ai, a chimpanzee renowned for her extraordinary cognitive abilities and her role in groundbreaking scientific research, died at age 49announced researchers from Kyoto University, Japan.
Ai, whose name means “love” in Japanese, was widely considered one of the non-human primates smartest people ever studied and often described as a “genius” in both academic and popular circles.
The university’s Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior reported that Ai died on Friday due to multiple organ failure and age-related health problems. He was part of the institution’s long-standing research program on cognition in primates, contributing for decades to studies that reshaped the scientific understanding of learning, perception and memory in chimpanzees.
Ai gained international attention for his ability to recognize and understand complex symbolic systems. Investigators discovered that she could identify over 100 Chinese charactersthe English alphabet, Arabic numerals from zero to nine and at least 11 different colors. Their abilities were demonstrated through computerized tests that required abstract thinking and symbolic association.
Ai gained international attention for his ability to recognize and understand complex symbolic systems. In a well-known experiment, Ai visualized the Chinese character representing the color pink on a computer screen, along with two color options: a pink square and a purple one. She consistently selected the correct color. In another task, when presented with an apple, Ai successfully recreated the object on a screen, selecting a rectangle, a circle and a point, effectively building a “virtual apple” from basic shapes.
According to reports, these skills made Ai the focus of numerous academic articles, including studies published in the prestigious journal Nature. His performance challenged long-held assumptions about limits of non-human intelligence and highlighted similarities between the cognitive processes of chimpanzees and humans.
A native of West Africa, Ai arrived at Kyoto University in 1977. In 2000, she gave birth to a son, Ayumu, who also became an object of scientific interest. Mother-infant studies have provided valuable information about how knowledge and skills can be transferred between generations in chimpanzees.
Researchers described Ai as extremely curious and cooperative, traits that made her a exceptional research partner. “She actively participated in these studies, revealing several aspects of the chimpanzee mind for the first time,” the center said.
