Do you prefer your marshmallows roasted to a golden brown or just lightly toasted? Actually, don't answer that -- if Kanzi is cooking, there's a good chance your 'mallow will arrive with a pretty hefty char no matter what.
But that's perfectly excusable, seeing as how Kanzi is a bonobo who, in addition to cooking with fire, has learned to build the fire itself. The great ape's impressive skills were featured earlier this month on an episode of "Monkey Planet," a BBC show focused on the world of primates.
One of the episode's more remarkable, eerily human, moments focuses on Kanzi's fire-lighting abilities. In the clip, the bonobo gathers and breaks large branches into smaller, kindling-sized twigs, stacking them loosely in a pile. He then deftly slides open a box of matches, selects one, and sparks it on the box, setting it alight.
After carefully threading marshmallows onto a stick, the bonobo-cum-Boy-Scout extends them toward the fire for a quick roast, then eats the finished products.
Though Kanzi's abilities have been studied for some time, and even covered in a 2011 article on The Huffington Post, the BBC's footage (above) has sparked renewed fascination.
Per NBC, Kanzi has also learned to communicate with humans, using touchpads full of icon-like symbols. He is said to have "remarkable empathy for his human handlers."
Bonobos, one of humankind's closest relatives, are classified as an endangered species, due largely to commercial poaching.
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