Extra questions re orangutan's hammock

[SusanDoris]

Having played the video through several times, I can make out that the light colour is the blanket and Nemo is a dark figure. I also listened to the text from the Daily Mail article linked to by google. Now, I am curious about the sort of knot that she made. A single knot would have quickely come undone as soon as she put her weight on to the hammock. This would have been slower I suppose if the material was very rough, but you need more than a single knot to support such a weight. Was there perhaps some kind of point in the cage over which the blanket happened to catch?

I am not in any way trying to dumb down the skill and thinking involved - I mean, the cleverness of orang-utans is one of the reasons one was the Librarian in UU, but I would just like to know more if possible.

[ekim]

It looked like a single knot at each end but the orang-utang was careful to hold on to parts of the cage with a hand or foot which helped in supporting its weight.  I expect that this is habitual for a tree dwelling animal.

[SqueakyVoice]

Also, a single knot in a sheet will have a lot more friction holding it together than a single knot in a piece of string.

[SusanDoris]

ekim and Squeaky voice

Thank you for  your help and for answering the questions.

[Nearly Sane]

It also tightens the knots in order to make the friction as great as possible, and does it in such a way that when it has not allowed enough of the sheet to create a secure knot, redoes the knot.

[Enki]

Hi Susan,

You might like to look at this video of a Caledonian crow, named 007, problem solving. I think you might find it interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVaITA7eBZE

[Nearly Sane]

Hi Susan,

You might like to look at this video of a Caledonian crow, named 007, problem solving. I think you might find it interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVaITA7eBZE

Essentially though we could post a video of an animal conducting the Berlin Philharmonic while doing a Fred Astaire tap dance and it won't have any effect on Alan's belief that it isn't conscious in the same way as he is. I remember in one if these never ending discussions in a moment of febrile desperation, he suggested that you needed to be able to read to be conscious. He is not susceptible to rationality on this.

[SusanDoris]

Thank you, NS. The discovery of how to tie knots was, I learnt when investigating string in relation to a project I organised when I was teaching, a major step forward in human progress.