Ai, a chimpanzee known for her cognitive abilities, has died in Japan.

Ai the chimpanzee, who became famous for her ability to distinguish between numerous colors, symbols and use numbers, has died at the age of 49. This was reported on January 12 by the BBC television and radio company with reference to the Center for the Study of the Evolutionary Origin of Human Behavior at Kyoto University, where she lived.

According to the report, Ai died of organ failure surrounded by institute staff.

In 1997, Ai was moved from West Africa to Japan, where she became the subject of an Ai Project research program dedicated to studying chimpanzee thinking. Ai learned how to successfully use numbers and distinguish colors. By the age of five, she had mastered numerical notation from one to six and could distinguish numbers, colors, and objects from more than 300 samples. In her free time, the chimpanzee loved to draw.

On November 16, Science Daily magazine reported on more complex rational thinking in chimpanzees compared to earlier assumptions. According to the publication, primates reconsider their decisions when they receive stronger evidence. It is emphasized that this skill is characteristic of human thinking.

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