Amundson also notes that the sweet potato was not available to the monkeys prior to human intervention.

And what we'd really thought we'd done is like we'd actually introduced something that, at least for the monkeys and us, works like a real financial currency.

Our aim was to grant some basic rights to the nonhuman great apes life, liberty, and the prohibition of torture.

Upon entering the market it was actually a much more fun market for the monkeys than most human markets because, as the monkeys entered the door of the market, a human would give them a big wallet full of tokens so they could actually trade the tokens with one of these two guys here two different possible human salesmen that they could actually buy stuff from.

The monkeys would rip off the tokens at every available opportunity from each other, often from us you know, things we didn't necessarily think we were introducing, but things we spontaneously saw.

The resolution would not have the force of law, but its approval would mark the first time that a national legislature has recognized the special status of great apes and the need to protect them, not only from extinction, but also from individual abuse.

I founded the Great Ape Project together with Paola Cavalieri, an Italian philosopher and animal advocate, in 1993. Our aim was to grant some basic rights to the nonhuman great apes life, liberty, and the prohibition of torture.