The burning question of what separates man from ape has been the focal point of biological anthropology since its inception. Rooted in anthropocentric ideology, the conversation about man and his closest living relative, the chimpanzee, has long been dominated by the idea that man is more cognitively, socially, and biologically complex than non-human primates. Any advancement in understanding of the true complexity of the primate brain had previously been hindered by the innate perception that humans are the only living organisms capable of language, self-awareness, perception, judgment, consciousness, and prosociality. Although anthropocentric ideology previously dominated biological anthropology, David Premack’s lifelong research on comparative
