Largest open dataset of great ape cognition

New resource makes 18 years of ape cognition research accessible for science and education

To the Point

• A unique open resource: The new EVApeCognition Dataset brings together 262 experimental datasets from 150 scientific publications produced at the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center in Leipzig between 2004 and 2021.
• Largest collection of its kind: To the authors’ knowledge, it is the most comprehensive publicly available dataset on great ape cognition worldwide.
• Ape cognition over time: The dataset includes 81 great apes, most of whom participated in more than one study, creating rare opportunities to examine long-term and developmental patterns.
• Value for research and teaching: The resource supports future meta-analyses, correlational studies, and educational projects in psychology, biology, and human evolution.

A new publication introduces the EVApeCognition Dataset, a major open-access resource designed to advance research into the cognition of great apes. Compiling 262 experimental datasets from 150 scientific publications, the dataset was produced at the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center in Leipzig, Germany, between 2004 and 2021.

Studying the cognition of great apes can provide valuable insights into the evolutionary origins of human intelligence. However, progress in this area has long been hindered by two key challenges: limited sample sizes and restricted access to data. Studies of individual ape cognition often involve only a small number of participants and are designed to address specific questions, which makes it difficult to investigate broader patterns over time, across different tasks, and among different individuals.

To address this issue, a core team of researchers curated, standardised and published data that had been collected over a period of 18 years at one of the world's leading centres for research into the cognition of great apes. This centre was established by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Leipzig Zoo.

A rare long-term view of great ape cognition

The EVApeCognition Dataset comprises data from 81 great apes who participated in 150 studies. The majority of these apes (78) took part in more than one study. This repeated participation makes the dataset particularly valuable, as it allows researchers to investigate issues that individual studies cannot address, such as developmental change, individual differences and long-term cognitive patterns.

Rather than presenting a single experimental finding, the publication establishes a research infrastructure for the field. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the world's largest and most comprehensive publicly available dataset on great ape cognition. “By making these data accessible, our project paves the way for future meta-analyses and correlational analyses, which could help researchers to better understand how our closest living relatives think, learn and behave”, says first author Alejandro Sánchez-Amaro, a researcher at the University of Stirling in the UK and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.

Built through broad scientific collaboration

The dataset is the result of a significant collaborative effort. Over the last five years, a core team has worked alongside more than 100 researchers, who have contributed data or supported various aspects of the project, ranging from technical infrastructure to communication and coordination.

In most cases, the team contacted the original authors directly and invited them to contribute their data. These materials were then assessed, standardised, and prepared for reuse. This standardisation process was essential since experimental datasets often differ in terms of their structure, terminology and documentation. Bringing these datasets together to create a coherent, reusable resource required extensive collaboration across the field. The resulting dataset is openly available via Zenodo.

Supporting research, teaching, and human origins studies

The dataset is expected to benefit researchers, teachers and students alike. Lecturers can use it for psychology, biology, comparative cognition and evolutionary anthropology projects, providing students with access to real-world behavioural data from our closest living relatives.

“For science, the dataset’s significance lies in its scale, accessibility and continuity,” says senior author Daniel Haun, director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthroplogy. “By bringing together numerous small-scale studies to create a standardised resource, EVApeCognition lays the groundwork for answering broader questions about cognition that were previously challenging to address. It also strengthens comparative research into the evolutionary roots of human intelligence.”

The release of the dataset coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Centre, marking an important milestone for the institution and a significant step forward for open science in comparative psychology.

By making nearly two decades' worth of data on the cognition of great apes publicly available, the EVApeCognition Dataset lays the groundwork for future discoveries, helping researchers to move beyond isolated studies and develop a broader understanding of cognition, development and behaviour in great apes.