Um, how did I miss this? How did THE WORLD MISS THIS??? Apparently, according to National Geographic, monkeys can understand grammar. I mean, sure, most people know about Koko, the sign language gorilla. But WOW. Read more HERE.
The article describes how "previous research in cotton-top tamarins had shown that the animals can understand basic grammar, for instance, identifying which words logically follow other words in a sentence." And now our scientist friends have demonstrated that tamarins can recognize suffixes and prefixes, and when they are used incorrectly. During the study, when a suffix was used out of order from what the monkeys had been previously hearing, they turned dramatically towards the researchers. THEY WERE THAT UPSET!!!! What sticklers those little tree-swingin' guys are. This is so exciting! Now in my ideal future universe when we are record shopping alongside giant otters and hanging at poolside Vegas bars with giant salamanders, we can have book clubs with tiny punk rock-lookin' monkeys. DREAMLAND!
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