Benefits of Wolf Predation and Do Chimps Use Humanlike Language? | Stars, Cells, and God ep15

Join Fazale “Fuz” Rana and visiting scholar Kyle Keltz as they discuss new discoveries taking place at the frontiers of science that have theological and philosophical implications, as well as new discoveries that point to the reality of God’s existence.

Many skeptics regard animal pain and suffering and the seemingly cruel, gratuitous death of animals in nature as fundamentally incompatible with God’s existence, or at least with God’s goodness. These complaints assume God doesn’t have good reasons to create a world with animal death, pain, and suffering. But is that true? In this episode, Fuz discusses one of those good reasons. Recent work indicates that wolf predation keeps moose populations at their zenith of health by removing individuals suffering from infectious agents and genetic diseases.

A 1991 study of wild chimpanzees found they’re able to use drumming to signal changes of direction and resting periods to their group members. This year an animal cognition researcher argues this evidence suggests chimpanzees can use language in humanlike ways by combining drumming in different sequences to create new meaning. . However, other current research into great apes suggests their capacity for communication is largely innate and biologically inherited. So, can chimpanzees create meaning like humans can, or are they like the great apes who have inherited this capacity? In this episode, Fuz and Kyle discuss these important topics.