Psychologists studying animals

The theory of evolution was an important factor in the founding and development of Psychology. Many psychologists today use animals to study elements of human psychological processes because we know from evolution that many human processes exist in other animals, perhaps in more elementary forms. However, there are also psychologists who study animals out of an interest in the animals in their own right, and often in their natural habitat. One such psychologist is Anne Russon from York's Department of Psychology who is particularly interested in orangutans. Her work is the focus of this article in the most recent issue of the New Yorker magazine. I think you may be surprised to see how well developed the orangutan's learning abilities have been found to be.