July 11, 2019 • 9 mins
The world is full of clever individuals, and some of them are featured on the tour today. One group crafted a language no one else can understand, while the other seems to speak one that's incredibly universal.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Walls are meant to be
(00:28):
protective four walls in a roof for a part of
a person's basic needs, along with food and clothing. Of course, however,
walls can also be confining. The stone walls of a prison,
for example, aren't seen as protective to the people inside,
even if they are meant to protect those of us
on the outside. Food didn't see walls as a shelter.
(00:50):
He saw them as a hindrance, something to be overcome. Fortunately,
Food was resourceful. He had been locked up since the
early nineteen sixties, back before security cameras and censors adorned
every corner and corridor. He learned the guard's schedules. He
knew when they patrolled his cell and when no one
was in the vicinity. The first time Foo escaped, he
(01:12):
got as far as the tree line before he was
captured and thrown back in. The guard in charge, Jerry Stones,
was furious. He threatened to fire anyone taking shortcuts and
not doing their job, security was of the utmost importance.
The second time Food got out, he was captured on
a nearby roof. Then one day one of the other
guards noticed something odd. He watched the prisoner from a distance,
(01:36):
taking note of his behavior. Foo produced something from his mouth.
It was a piece of metal he jimmied into the
lock on his door. The guard didn't know how he'd
gotten it. More importantly, he had no idea how Foo
was able to pick the lock by himself. But like
I said, Foo was resourceful. The authorities were at a
loss for how they could keep losing track of him.
(01:58):
They thought they were doing everything right, and technically they were.
There was just one thing they hadn't counted on. Animal intelligence.
You see. Foo's full name was Fu Manchu, and in
nineteen sixty eight he wasn't a prisoner per se, but
he was certainly behind bars in the Omaha Zoo. He
was an orangutang and did not enjoy staying trapped in
(02:21):
his enclosure. Foo liked climbing down the exterior of an
air vent into a dry moat that led to a furnace.
He would use his strength to pry the furnace door
open just enough so he could slip the wire, which
he kept tucked between his bottom lip and his gums,
into the crack. He'd slided upwards to unhook the latch
and then roam around the zoo. The head zookeeper, Jerry Stones,
(02:45):
couldn't believe the ape had figured out a way to
break out on his own, But almost twenty years later
in San Diego, another male orangutan managed to do the
same thing. This one named Ken Allen had become very
good at scaling the walls of his closure. Zookeepers there
eventually brought in a team of professional rock climbers to
find ways to keep Ken from climbing his way to freedom,
(03:08):
or worse, teaching the other apes to do the same. However,
to animal researchers at the time, these escapades weren't as
interesting as what was going on in other zoos around
the country. The famous gorilla Coco in California could communicate
with American sign language. She knew over one thousand different
signs and was able to convey emotions as well as
(03:30):
ask for things from the researchers. And then there was Colo,
a female guerrilla at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio. Colo
couldn't sign, but she had other ways of getting what
she wanted. One day, zookeeper Charlene Gendri learned Coco had
taken possession of something her colleagues couldn't identify, and she
was keeping it hidden. Thinking it might be something dangerous,
(03:51):
they tried to bargain with her. They offered her peanuts
to try and coax it out of her hand, but
she wouldn't let go. She wanted more, Charlene and added
a slice of pineapple to the deal. That's when Colo
showed her what she had been hiding, a key chain.
But rather than give her the whole thing, Colo saw
an opportunity to increase her earnings. She broke the key
(04:11):
chain into pieces and only gave a new piece away
when Charlene presented a new piece of pineapple. The object
in Colo's hand hadn't been anything dangerous after all, but
the experience had taught Charlene something important about the apes.
They knew how to negotiate, Foo Man, Chew, Ken Allen, Coco,
(04:33):
and Colo had all learned how to perform different tasks
once considered only teachable to humans, the ability to pick
locks outwit zookeepers communicate via sign language and barter for
stolen goods apparently came naturally to the curious creatures, and
however scientifically inaccurate it might be for me to swap
(04:55):
animal names in this particular story, the old adage couldn't
be more relevant given the circumstances. After all, monkey see
monkey Do. Easter Island, just off the coast of Chile,
(05:21):
was settled by the Rapa Nui people sometime around d
It's perhaps most famous for its Moi statues, the giant
carved stone heads that populate the island. It's people have
been through a lot over the last eight hundred years, deforestation,
European imperialism, the slave trade, and the introduction of foreign diseases,
and yet there are still things we don't know. Every
(05:43):
culture has its own myths and mysteries. The giant statues,
of course, are the largest and best known examples on
the island, but there are also wood carvings, houses made
of stone, and writings. The writings are perhaps the most
fascinating remnants of the ancient Rapa Nui. Petroglyphs or rock
carvings have been cataloged all over the island as territory markers.
(06:06):
And headstones. Many ancient petroglyphs have been translated over the years,
giving researchers a better understanding of Rapa Nui history, but
there's one type of script that has perplexed them for years.
It's called Rongo Rongo, and word of its existence was
first spread outside the island by a French missionary. His
name was Eugene A. Rod and he'd been a mechanic
(06:28):
and a minor by trade, but later in life he
developed a passion for missionary work, which took him to
China in the mid eighteen hundreds, than to Chile, Tahiti,
and finally Eastern Island in eighteen sixty four. It was
during his first tour when he encountered Rongo Rongo. He
would enter the homes of the native people and see
wooden tablets on display featuring unfamiliar glyphs. No one, not
(06:52):
even the locals, knew how to read them. He didn't
see anything of note in them. To him, everything about
the island was strange and knew though. It wasn't until
five years later when a colleague of his accidentally unveiled
Rongo Rongo to the rest of the world. This colleague
had presented one of the wooden tablets as a gift
to a bishop who had been working alongside him. It's
(07:15):
differences from the main language of the island were immediately apparent.
First of all, nearly every instance of it had been
carved in wood, not stone. It's been said that wood
was so valuable on the island only expert scribes ever
used it in their writing. And Secondly, the bishop could
find no one on the island who could read the
tablet to him. One person knew its contents by memory,
(07:37):
but not what any of the symbols meant. These glyphs,
which were comprised of shapes representing different plants, people, and animals,
were arranged in a technique called reverse boustrepadon. To read
the carving, the reader would have to start in the
bottom left corner and read toward the right, then rotate
the tablet degrees and continue to the next line. However,
(08:01):
despite the obvious pictorial style of the text, Rongo Rongo
has remained nearly undecipherable for over a century. Part of
one tablet has been translated into some kind of lunar calendar,
though it can't be read or understood, and there are
over fifteen thousand known glyphs within this system, and no
contextual texts or artifacts to compare them against. This makes
(08:24):
Rongo Rongo arguably an unknowable language. Some historians have claimed
it really isn't a language at all, but rather a
proto language, a way to convey information to anyone who
already knows what the symbols really mean. However, with so
few texts remaining and no one with any knowledge of
what any of them say, it's possible that a definitive
(08:46):
Rongo Rongo translation may never come. A picture may be
worth a thousand words, as they say, but a glyph
carved into a wooden tablet could very well be priceless.
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
(09:09):
more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
and you can learn all about it over at the
World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Walls are meant to be
(00:28):
protective four walls in a roof for a part of
a person's basic needs, along with food and clothing. Of course, however,
walls can also be confining. The stone walls of a prison,
for example, aren't seen as protective to the people inside,
even if they are meant to protect those of us
on the outside. Food didn't see walls as a shelter.
(00:50):
He saw them as a hindrance, something to be overcome. Fortunately,
Food was resourceful. He had been locked up since the
early nineteen sixties, back before security cameras and censors adorned
every corner and corridor. He learned the guard's schedules. He
knew when they patrolled his cell and when no one
was in the vicinity. The first time Foo escaped, he
(01:12):
got as far as the tree line before he was
captured and thrown back in. The guard in charge, Jerry Stones,
was furious. He threatened to fire anyone taking shortcuts and
not doing their job, security was of the utmost importance.
The second time Food got out, he was captured on
a nearby roof. Then one day one of the other
guards noticed something odd. He watched the prisoner from a distance,
(01:36):
taking note of his behavior. Foo produced something from his mouth.
It was a piece of metal he jimmied into the
lock on his door. The guard didn't know how he'd
gotten it. More importantly, he had no idea how Foo
was able to pick the lock by himself. But like
I said, Foo was resourceful. The authorities were at a
loss for how they could keep losing track of him.
(01:58):
They thought they were doing everything right, and technically they were.
There was just one thing they hadn't counted on. Animal intelligence.
You see. Foo's full name was Fu Manchu, and in
nineteen sixty eight he wasn't a prisoner per se, but
he was certainly behind bars in the Omaha Zoo. He
was an orangutang and did not enjoy staying trapped in
(02:21):
his enclosure. Foo liked climbing down the exterior of an
air vent into a dry moat that led to a furnace.
He would use his strength to pry the furnace door
open just enough so he could slip the wire, which
he kept tucked between his bottom lip and his gums,
into the crack. He'd slided upwards to unhook the latch
and then roam around the zoo. The head zookeeper, Jerry Stones,
(02:45):
couldn't believe the ape had figured out a way to
break out on his own, But almost twenty years later
in San Diego, another male orangutan managed to do the
same thing. This one named Ken Allen had become very
good at scaling the walls of his closure. Zookeepers there
eventually brought in a team of professional rock climbers to
find ways to keep Ken from climbing his way to freedom,
(03:08):
or worse, teaching the other apes to do the same. However,
to animal researchers at the time, these escapades weren't as
interesting as what was going on in other zoos around
the country. The famous gorilla Coco in California could communicate
with American sign language. She knew over one thousand different
signs and was able to convey emotions as well as
(03:30):
ask for things from the researchers. And then there was Colo,
a female guerrilla at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio. Colo
couldn't sign, but she had other ways of getting what
she wanted. One day, zookeeper Charlene Gendri learned Coco had
taken possession of something her colleagues couldn't identify, and she
was keeping it hidden. Thinking it might be something dangerous,
(03:51):
they tried to bargain with her. They offered her peanuts
to try and coax it out of her hand, but
she wouldn't let go. She wanted more, Charlene and added
a slice of pineapple to the deal. That's when Colo
showed her what she had been hiding, a key chain.
But rather than give her the whole thing, Colo saw
an opportunity to increase her earnings. She broke the key
(04:11):
chain into pieces and only gave a new piece away
when Charlene presented a new piece of pineapple. The object
in Colo's hand hadn't been anything dangerous after all, but
the experience had taught Charlene something important about the apes.
They knew how to negotiate, Foo Man, Chew, Ken Allen, Coco,
(04:33):
and Colo had all learned how to perform different tasks
once considered only teachable to humans, the ability to pick
locks outwit zookeepers communicate via sign language and barter for
stolen goods apparently came naturally to the curious creatures, and
however scientifically inaccurate it might be for me to swap
(04:55):
animal names in this particular story, the old adage couldn't
be more relevant given the circumstances. After all, monkey see
monkey Do. Easter Island, just off the coast of Chile,
(05:21):
was settled by the Rapa Nui people sometime around d
It's perhaps most famous for its Moi statues, the giant
carved stone heads that populate the island. It's people have
been through a lot over the last eight hundred years, deforestation,
European imperialism, the slave trade, and the introduction of foreign diseases,
and yet there are still things we don't know. Every
(05:43):
culture has its own myths and mysteries. The giant statues,
of course, are the largest and best known examples on
the island, but there are also wood carvings, houses made
of stone, and writings. The writings are perhaps the most
fascinating remnants of the ancient Rapa Nui. Petroglyphs or rock
carvings have been cataloged all over the island as territory markers.
(06:06):
And headstones. Many ancient petroglyphs have been translated over the years,
giving researchers a better understanding of Rapa Nui history, but
there's one type of script that has perplexed them for years.
It's called Rongo Rongo, and word of its existence was
first spread outside the island by a French missionary. His
name was Eugene A. Rod and he'd been a mechanic
(06:28):
and a minor by trade, but later in life he
developed a passion for missionary work, which took him to
China in the mid eighteen hundreds, than to Chile, Tahiti,
and finally Eastern Island in eighteen sixty four. It was
during his first tour when he encountered Rongo Rongo. He
would enter the homes of the native people and see
wooden tablets on display featuring unfamiliar glyphs. No one, not
(06:52):
even the locals, knew how to read them. He didn't
see anything of note in them. To him, everything about
the island was strange and knew though. It wasn't until
five years later when a colleague of his accidentally unveiled
Rongo Rongo to the rest of the world. This colleague
had presented one of the wooden tablets as a gift
to a bishop who had been working alongside him. It's
(07:15):
differences from the main language of the island were immediately apparent.
First of all, nearly every instance of it had been
carved in wood, not stone. It's been said that wood
was so valuable on the island only expert scribes ever
used it in their writing. And Secondly, the bishop could
find no one on the island who could read the
tablet to him. One person knew its contents by memory,
(07:37):
but not what any of the symbols meant. These glyphs,
which were comprised of shapes representing different plants, people, and animals,
were arranged in a technique called reverse boustrepadon. To read
the carving, the reader would have to start in the
bottom left corner and read toward the right, then rotate
the tablet degrees and continue to the next line. However,
(08:01):
despite the obvious pictorial style of the text, Rongo Rongo
has remained nearly undecipherable for over a century. Part of
one tablet has been translated into some kind of lunar calendar,
though it can't be read or understood, and there are
over fifteen thousand known glyphs within this system, and no
contextual texts or artifacts to compare them against. This makes
(08:24):
Rongo Rongo arguably an unknowable language. Some historians have claimed
it really isn't a language at all, but rather a
proto language, a way to convey information to anyone who
already knows what the symbols really mean. However, with so
few texts remaining and no one with any knowledge of
what any of them say, it's possible that a definitive
(08:46):
Rongo Rongo translation may never come. A picture may be
worth a thousand words, as they say, but a glyph
carved into a wooden tablet could very well be priceless.
I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet
of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn
(09:09):
more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
and you can learn all about it over at the
World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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