Ai, Japanese chimpanzee who counted and painted, dies at 49

Ai, a female chimpanzee famous for her cognitive skills has died at 49, according to the Japanese institute where she lived. The Kyoto University's Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior said Ai died on 9 January of old age and organ failure and that she was surrounded by staff when she died. Ai was born in western Africa and arrived at the Japanese institute in 1977. There, she became the namesake of the Ai Project, a research programme into the chimpanzee mind. Among the institute's noteable findings were the fact that Ai was able to use numbers and identify colours.