American black bear, computer test by clapping hands and nose
When it comes to learning concepts, colliding or licking touch screens can compete with great apes.
Jennifer Feng, a comparative cognitive psychologist at the University of Auckland, Rochester, Michigan, took three Zoo bear brothers and sisters as the classroom object.
, Her colleague showed the bears several pairs of pictures on a solid computer screen and gave them food to get pictures from a certain category.
In order to show learning a concept, the bear has to figure out what kind of picture can be rewarded and then select this one from a new scene.