Chimps converse with gestures similar to humans 🐒🗣️
Chimpanzees trade gestures at a rapid pace when socialising, similar to the rate at which humans engage in a back-and-forth conversation. Researchers at University of St Andrews made the discovery by analysing five wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) communities across East Africa, examining 8559 gestures made by 252 chimps – one of the largest studies of its kind. They recorded face-to-face interactions between the apes, noting the timing between one’s gesture and another’s response.
The results show that humans and chimpanzees both take part in rapid social exchanges, suggesting some foundational principles of language may have evolved earlier than previously thought.
Learn more at https://www.newscientist.com/article/...