Chimpanzees Communicate Like Humans—According to Recent Study

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Chimpanzees, one of humans’ closest evolutionary relatives, exhibit communication skills remarkably similar to human conversation, according to a recent study reported by the BBC. Researchers, including Professor Cat Hobaiter from the University of St Andrews, discovered that chimpanzees engage in fast-paced, turn-taking communication using gestures and facial expressions.

The study, published in Current Biology, shows that these interactions are similar to the rapid exchanges seen in human conversations, often with only fractions of a second between turns. These exchanges show that they "speak" in a structured manner, with responses that come quickly and sometimes even overlap, much like humans interrupting each other. (“Chimps share humans' snappy conversational style | bbc.com”)

These findings suggest that both species share underlying communication mechanisms, potentially derived from a common evolutionary ancestor or developed through convergent evolution to enhance coordinated interactions. (“Chimpanzee gestural exchanges share temporal structure with human language | sciencedirect.com”)

The research focused on face-to-face gestural interactions within five wild East African chimpanzee communities, analyzing over 8,500 instances of gestural exchanges. The timing between gestures in these interactions was often similar to the rapid 200-millisecond response times observed in human conversation. The consistency of these exchanges across chimpanzee communities further supports the idea that this communication system is an important part of their social interactions.

This study adds to the growing evidence that human and chimpanzee communication is more alike than previously understood, and it reinforces the theory of a shared evolutionary roots.