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Do Dogs Understand Us Better Than Chimpanzees?

Researchers have long been curious about how animals understand human communication - especially something as simple as pointing. This study, “Dogs (Canis familiaris), but Not Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), Understand Imperative Pointing,” set out to explore that question in a new way.

At first glance, chimpanzees seem like they should be great at this. They can follow where humans are looking and even understand some goals and intentions. But when it comes to interpreting a human pointing gesture—like when someone points to an object they want—chimpanzees often struggle.

Dogs, on the other hand, are generally very good at using human gestures to find food. However, it hasn’t been as clear whether they can use these cues in situations that don’t involve food.

In this study, researchers directly compared chimpanzees (20 individuals) and dogs (32 individuals). The animals were shown two visible objects placed behind them. A human pointed to one object they wanted, and the animal’s task was to pick it up and hand it over. If they chose correctly, they were rewarded.

To test this, scientists gave both chimpanzees and dogs a simple task. Two objects were placed behind each animal, and a person pointed to the one they wanted. The animal’s job was to pick up the correct object and hand it over in exchange for a reward.

The results told a clear story. Dogs were surprisingly good at understanding the pointing gesture and choosing the right object—even from the very first try. Chimpanzees, however, didn’t perform better than random guessing. Even though they were motivated and understood the basic task (they would hand over objects), they didn’t seem to grasp what the pointing gesture meant.

This suggests something interesting: it’s not just about intelligence. Chimpanzees are highly intelligent, but they may not naturally interpret human communication the same way dogs do. Dogs, having evolved alongside humans, appear especially tuned in to our signals—almost as if they expect us to be communicating with them.

In other words, understanding what someone wants is different from understanding what someone is trying to tell you. Dogs seem to get both. Chimpanzees, at least in this context, do not.

“While dogs performed well on this task, chimpanzees failed to identify the referent.”

Kirchhofer, K. C., Zimmermann, F., Kaminski, J., & Tomasello, M. (2012). Dogs (Canis familiaris), but not chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), understand imperative pointing. PLOS ONE, 7(2), e30913. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0030913