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Whether with or without understanding - apes are masters of association. A research series at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig showed that they learn to combine cause and effect better than almost any other animal: chimpanzees and orangutans competed against two-year-old children in various tests.

One task: Human and animal test persons were to "fish" a reward through a grid - with the help of a tool and without instructions. The astonishing result was: 74 percent of the chimpanzees and 38 percent of the orangutans solved the mystery. Of the children, only 23 percent made it.

The associative thinking of the great apes even goes so far that they can plan for the future. In a similar test, the Leipzig researchers provided the great apes with a tool to get to a bottle of juice - initially no great challenge for the animals.

The apes were then led into a room in which various tools were stored, including the familiar. But this time there was no juice. In the next room, however, there was only the juice. At the next attempt almost all animals had understood the connection and took the tool with them into the room where the juice stood.

Completely differently the results of tests look however, with which the apes had to interpret gestures. The scientists hid an object under a little hat and then pointed at it with their finger. Only about two thirds of the animals were able to interpret the hint. In the case of small children, however, the figure was over 90 percent.