Provided by Kyodo News
A female chimpanzee known for her ability to recognize letters and numbers has died of old age and multiple organ failure at 49 years of age, according to the Japanese institute that led experiments involving her.
Kyoto University's Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, said Ai was born in western Africa in 1976 and arrived at the center the following year.
She then began language learning using materials, including computers, at the age of 18 months.
Ai died Friday as staff watched over her, according to the center formerly known as the Primate Research Institute.
She showed strong literacy skills, including pointing to the kanji character for green among many characters after seeing a green image, and the British science magazine Nature featured her in 1985.
The chimpanzee escaped her cage with another in 1989 and researchers found that Ai apparently opened a padlock using a key. In 2000, she gave birth to a son, Ayumu, whose abilities drew attention to studies of parent-child knowledge transfer.