Kanzi, a chimpanzee renowned for his ability to play Minecraft and Pac-Man, has passed away. The center where he resided announced his death on their website.
At the time of his death, Kanzi was 44 years old. He was part of a research project focused on teaching apes to understand human language. Kanzi developed communication skills using a keyboard with lexigrams – symbols that represent specific words or actions. He was often called a genius among apes, with scientists estimating his intelligence to be on par with a human child aged two to three years.
Kanzi began learning Minecraft with simple tasks. A green arrow indicated a target point, and touching the touchscreen moved his character in the game. As he progressed, he was given more complex challenges using touch-sensitive buttons with familiar lexigrams. For example, he would be tasked with breaking a block after selecting the correct pickaxe.
Throughout his learning process, Kanzi frequently looked to scientists and bloggers for guidance and demonstrated a strong understanding of their instructions. A video released over a year ago showed Kanzi successfully defeating the Ender Dragon in Minecraft.
Finley Holt