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A group of New Zealand activists calling itself the Great Ape Project of New Zealand recently asked that nation to amend its constitution to grant great apes the same rights as human beings. Chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos would be given the same legal right to life and freedom from torture and invasive surgery that humans have.
According to David Penny of the Great Ape Project, "There is now a mountain of evidence that the great apes are as intelligent as young human children and very similar in their emotional and cognitive development."