Today's Distraction: Bonobo Apes 'Talk' About Food

Enlarge this image toggle caption Thomas Lohnes/AFP/Getty Images Thomas Lohnes/AFP/Getty Images

If there is one thing I've learned from our friends over at 13.7, it's that bonobo apes are pretty amazing creatures. Ursula Goodenough, a biologist, has written quite a bit about the time she's spent at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa and how much of us she sees in them.

Yesterday, the journal PLoS One published a rather simple, yet illuminating paper in which researchers from the University of St Andrews, Scotland explained that bonobos not only communicate with other bonobos when they've found food, but they also make distinct vocalizations for when they've found good or bad food.

So here's the sound they make when they've found some kiwi, a food they like:

Yummy Food

And here's the sound they make when they've found apples, a food they think is OK:

OK food

So what does it mean? The BBC spoke to primate expert and one of the authors of the study Dr. Zanna Clay: