EVApeCognition: An 18-Year Dataset of Great Ape Cognition

Journal article

The study of great ape cognition offers insights into the evolutionary origins of human intelligence, but is hindered by small sample sizes and restricted access to data. To address this, we present the EVApeCognition Dataset, a publicly available resource comprising 262 experimental datasets from 150 scientific publications from the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center (2004–2021) in Leipzig, Germany. Eighty-one apes participated in 150 studies, with a majority (N = 78) participating in more than one study. Publication of the dataset aims to make these unique datasets accessible for future meta-analyses and correlational analyses, helping us better understand how our great ape relatives think, learn, and behave.

Authors: Sánchez-Amaro, A; Ebel van Wijk, SJ; Molenaar, C; Abuova, A; Mujica-Manrique, L

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Journal: Scientific Data
• Publication date: 2026-04-09
• Acceptance date: 2026-03-31
• DOI: 10.1038/s41597-026-07191-6
• EISSN: 2052-4463
• ISSN: 2052-4463
• Language: English
• Keywords: Variety (cybernetics); Primate; Animal cognition; Cognition; Sample (material); Resource (disambiguation)