DOI 10.1007/s10071-008-0192-xORIGINAL PAPER Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) know what can be seen from where

Abstract Visual perspective taking research has estab-lished that chimpanzees recognize what others can or can-not see in the presence of occluding barriers. Less is known about chimpanzees ’ appreciation of what they themselves can or cannot see in similar situations. Additionally, it is unclear whether chimpanzees must rely on others ’ gaze cues to solve such tasks or whether they have a more gen-eral appreciation of what can be seen from where. Hence, we investigated chimpanzees ’ ability to anticipate what they would or would not be able to see from diVerent visual perspectives. Food was hidden among arrays of open con-tainers, with diVerent containers providing visual access from unique viewing perspectives. Chimpanzees immedi-ately adopted the correct perspective for each container type. Follow-up experiments showed that they were not simply moving to align themselves with visible openings. Our study thus suggests that chimpanzees have good visual perspective taking abilities with regard to themselves as well as others, and that both likely reXect a more general knowledge, at least implicit, of what can be seen from where