Does Haloko Know

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Does Haloko Know?

• A Study of One Subjects Social Conception of
  Self Using Theory of Mind

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Who is Haloko?
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• A female grandmother-figure Western Lowland
  Gorilla
• Resided in The Great Ape House at the Smithsonian
  National Zoological Park since 1989
• Haloko spends her time quite removed from the
  social life of the six other gorillas
• She is the only gorilla at the Zoo not born in
  captivity
• She has never reared any of her own offspring
• Though Haloko is arguably more sociable with the
  keepers, she exhibits a high level of antisocial
  behavior toward those in her group
• She was severely traumatized by being taken from
  the wild
• She is suffering from arthritis

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Ethogram Interpreted

• provides evidence of her secluded nature in a
  quantifiable form
• She spends an abundant amount of time away from
  the others and there is very little tactile
  communication and movement
• Her interaction with gorillas and even, as
  observed, with people in minimal
• Her facial expressions suggest that she is bored,
  due to the frequency of her yawning and no
  evidence of a roar or a coo
• she holds back when treats are thrown, showing a
  preference to remain non-confrontational with the
  others

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Theory of the Mind

• Defined supposition that we are able to
  recognize that other human beings have their own
  individual desires, intentions, beliefs and
  mental states and we can then infer what those
  desires, intentions, beliefs and mental states
  although they may be incongruent from our own

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Does Haloko show Theory of the Mind?

• YES! Primates are part of the research today to
  include primates as a species in full ability of
  self-awareness
• Self-awareness means being the object of ones
  own attention
• Various scientists describe this as ranging from
  merely being aware of the products of
  self-perception or environmental stimuli to the
  ability of conceptualizing information about the
  self, which needs to be determined abstractly
• Observation of Haloko suggests that her
  personality gives some definitive evidence of
  such level of self-awareness
• In terms of social success in primates, they need
  to be able to separate themselves from the other

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Conclusion

• We still dont know a lot about the
  self-awareness of other primates, though weve
  looked at it from both a cross-species and
  ancestral point of view. We dont fully grasp the
  Theory of Mind of others because we have
  self-centered tendencies that impede us from
  doing so. There is still much room for clarity
  and an increase in how in depth the knowledge is
  of how well we are self-aware but also aware of
  the internal and psychological aspects of others,
  including a knowledge of primates
  self-awareness. We know a great deal about the
  questions that still need to be answered do any
  other species have self-awareness and Theory of
  Mind? Did our ancestors exhibit Theory of
  Mind? More specifically, does Haloko exhibit
  Theory of the Mind? How can we be sure? All
  these unknowns and questions lead to a very
  difficult conclusion that perhaps more study is
  needed to make an affirmation about the efficacy
  of these concepts.