Monkey See, Monkey Don't Do

No, this article is not about politics. The NY Times has published an article about what might make humans unique from chimps in their learning. Apparently, children learn heavily by imitation but chimps don't necessarily do this in all circumstances. I find this research finding interesting because I could swear that my dogs imitate each other and learn in that way. Maybe dogs aren't like chimps either, but, if dogs learn by imitation in the same kinds of circumstances that children do, then the chimp/child  research findings wouldn't make us unique in the world of mammals. Anyway, this is conjecture and would have to be studied empirically.