Chimpanzees use rapid gestures in conversations like humans

If you’ve ever found yourself on the edge of your seat during a gripping conversation, you know that there’s a certain rhythm to it. This rhythm isn’t unique to us humans. In fact, a fascinating study has unfolded a parallel universe where our closest evolutionary relatives, the chimpanzees, mirror our gestures in their conversational patterns.

The study was led by Catherine Hobaiter from the University of St Andrews, UK, a scientist who spends her days in the captivating world of animal communication. She and her team have recently revealed how chimpanzees, much like us, take turns during their communicative interactions.

Gestures in chimpanzee conversation

“While human languages are incredibly diverse, a hallmark we all share is that our conversations are structured with fast-paced turns of just 200 milliseconds on average. But it was an open question whether this was uniquely human, or if other animals share this structure,” said Hobaiter.

To answer this, the researchers delved deep into the world of chimpanzee “conversations” across five wild communities in East Africa.

The team collected an impressive dataset of more than 8,500 gestures from 252 individual chimpanzees. They clocked their turns, studied their patterns, and what they found was truly fascinating.

Chimpanzee’s flow of gestures

Turns out, 14% of the communications among these chimpanzees included a back-and-forth exchange of gestures. These gestural exchanges weren’t limited to just two parts. Some engaged in a volley up to seven parts long.

“We found that the timing of chimpanzee gesture and human conversational turn-taking is similar and very fast, which suggests that similar evolutionary mechanisms are driving these social, communicative interactions,” said study first author Gal Badihi.

Peek into chimp culture

There was a smattering of cultural diversity among these chimp communities. Some communities had rapid-fire exchanges, while others took a bit more time, reminiscent of cultural variances in human conversations.

“In humans, it is the Danish who are ‘slower’ responders, and in Eastern chimpanzees that’s the Sonso community in Uganda,” noted Hobaiter

Shared story of communication

Could these similarities point to a shared, ancestral mechanism? This intriguing possibility is being explored by the researchers. The underlying rules of face-to-face communication may straddle across the boundary that separates us from our chimp cousins.

“It shows that other social species don’t need language to engage in close-range communicative exchanges with quick response time,” said Badihi.

Are these patterns merely quirks of highly social species or an inherent trait of apes? That’s a tantalizing question for future research.

Cognitive foundation of communication

The implications of these findings stretch beyond mere observation; they invite a deeper exploration into the cognitive processes underlying communication.

Understanding how chimpanzees structure their exchanges could provide insights into the evolution of language itself.

As scientists like Hobaiter and Badihi investigate the nuances of these interactions, they also shed light on fundamental aspects of social cognition such as empathy, awareness, and the ability to engage in cooperative exchanges.

This knowledge could enhance our comprehension of both human and non-human communicative systems, bridging gaps in our understanding of intelligence across species.

Future directions in research

The study of chimpanzee communication is far from exhaustive, and there are myriad avenues for future exploration.

Researchers could investigate how environmental factors influence gesture exchanges, the impact of social hierarchy on communication patterns, or the potential for learning new gestures within different communities.

Additionally, studies could expand to include other primate species, enriching our understanding of the evolutionary lineage of communication.

As the research progresses, it holds the promise of revealing more about the intricate tapestry of social interactions that bind both humans and their primate relatives.

Chimpanzee gestures in conversations

What compels a chimpanzee to “strike a conversation”? Is it to ask something, or merely to connect? The researchers are intent on unraveling the why and when of these conversational structures.

“We still don’t know when these conversational structures evolved, or why! To get at that question we need to explore communication in more distantly related species – so that we can work out if these are an ape-characteristic, or ones that we share with other highly social species, such as elephants or ravens,” said Hobaiter.

Isn’t it fascinating how these seemingly simple forms of communication could be the building blocks of our complex linguistic structures?

And, who knows? The next time you’re in the middle of a rapid-fire conversation, you might feel a delightful connection with a chimpanzee somewhere in East Africa!

The study is published in the journal Current Biology.

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