My brother, Grantland, who is a teacher and studied animal behavior in college, told me a story about a study that looked at the ability of animals to learn new things as they get older.
First, a baby gorilla was shown three upended bowls, one of which had a piece of food underneath. Each bowl had a symbol on the top, and two of the bowls had the same symbol. The one with the unique symbol had the food.
The ...