In reply to Is Arabic the first cursive writing?:
The published paper describing the experiment is available online:
http://people.psych.cornell.edu/~jec7/pcd%20pubs/graingeretal.pdf
The conclusion makes clear what the researchers consider the significance of the findings, and I agree with them. I don't think it is a matter of having underestimated the cognitive abilities of animals, but of confirming that a particular cognitive ability that humans use for a very specialised cultural activity is shared with primates that do no use it for that purpose. And I do find that interesting because it obliges us to generalise the ability, even beyond notions of pattern recognition being useful for e.g. hunting.
