Science: Bonobo or the Great Ape.

The Bonobo (pan paniscus) like chimpanzee, is another closest living relative of homosapien. 

They are found exclusively in the low land rain forests of Congo, south of a river by that name. Purely matriarchal

led by female bands. More peaceful than chimpanzees, and frequently use sex as a tool for social bonding and conflict resolution. 

They have slender bodies and longer legs, darker faces with pink lips, when compared to chimpanzees. An engendered species. Typically live 40 years in captivity. Like chimpanzees, they are not proficient swimmers, and trapped in Congo basin, south of the river and seperated from their ancestors, chimpanzees. Also known as pigmy chimpanzee because of their small size. 

Recent groundbreaking studies published in February 2026 reveal that bonobos possess cognitive building blocks for imagination and pretense-play, abilities long considered unique to humans. 

The most significant study published in the Journal Science, centred on Kanzi, a 43 year old bonobo at the Ape Initiative, Iowa. But these studies were based on a human enculturated Kanzi and not on a wild bonobo. 

Dogs also possess nearly all the cognitive building blocks for imagination and mental representation. A 2024 study published in Current Biology used brain imaging to prove that dogs form mental representations of objects. When the dogs hear the name of a familiar toy like ball, their brains show a specific electrical pattern that matches actual obiect, even when they can't see it.

Research from 2022 showed that dogs create multi-sensory mental images; they can find a specifically named toy in the dark by imagining its smell and feel before they even reach it.

For a dog to play-fight without  actually hurting another, it must engage in a form of pretense. In the case of a nip-bite the dog must understand that a playful nip symbolizes a bite but is not a bite. This require a secondary representation, treating one as if it were another. Play-bow is a meta communication to signal that everything following it is a pretense and not serious. This is a high-level cognitive skill that shows they are managing a shared imaginary context with their partner.

Latest studies show that dogs have episodic memory, allowing to replay their own past actions in their heads.

The repeat action experiments with dogs show that they can see the past events in their mind's eye.  Research shows dogs are more likely to steal forbidden food in a dark room than in a lit room, suggesting they can imagine human's point of view and realize humans cannot see them.

While living with humans certainly enhances and shapes these skills, scientific evidence suggests that the biological capacity for imagination and complex social cognition likely predates domestication.