Research
Chimpanzees blowing raspberries offer first evidence of learned vocal conventions in great ape communication
Phys.org ·
The Brief
- A study from the CNRS Institute of Cognitive Sciences, University of Warwick and the Taï Chimpanzee Project reports that chimpanzees may learn how to use some of their calls from adults around them.
- The findings are presented as the first evidence of learned vocal conventions in great ape communication.
- The researchers draw a parallel with how human children learn words.
Why it matters
The result suggests that a form of socially learned vocal convention, previously associated mainly with human language, may exist in a great ape, which bears on how language-like communication evolved.
Who’s affected
- primatologists and animal behaviour researchers
- researchers studying the evolution of language and communication
- #chimpanzees
- #vocal communication
- #animal behaviour
- #language evolution
- #primates
Chimpanzees may learn how to use some of their calls from the adults around them, in a surprising parallel with how human children learn words, finds a study from the CNRS Institute of Cognitive Sciences, University of Warwick and Taï Chimpanzee Project.