A new study shows that wild chimpanzees communicate through a much more sophisticated communication system than previously thought. Chimpanzees use different mechanisms to combine sounds to create new meanings. A study published in the journal Science Advances highlights chimpanzee communication. Chimpanzee communication is thought to resemble some of the basic structures of human language.
Scientists are examining language diversity by analyzing recordings from three groups of chimpanzees living in Ivory Coast. Chimpanzees express their feelings by gurgling and combining their calls. Like humans, they can create new phrases or change the order of words.
The study is the first time scientists have documented the complexity of a communication system. They believe that chimpanzees’ ability represents an evolutionary transition between early animal communication and human language. “Combining words to create new or composite meanings is a feature of human language,” says scientist Catherine Crockford. I am trying to find out whether our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, have similar abilities. A separate study found similar evidence. Another primate called bonobos can combine their calls to change their calls and form phrases.
These studies on language suggest that both species can produce the basic building blocks of human language. Bonobos and chimpanzees are one of the closest species to humans in evolutionary history. Scientists are trying to understand how human language evolved by analyzing the language of these animals. Scientist Cedric Girard-Batoge said, “Our findings indicate a vocal communication system in these animals. The complex ability to combine language is seen in other animals.”
For the study, scientists followed specific animals in the forest from dawn to dusk every day. They recorded videos to learn about the complexity of the chimpanzee’s vocal system. They recorded more than 4,300 vocalizations of 53 wild chimpanzees. Researchers have tracked chimpanzees’ activities, social interactions, and environmental changes while recording their vocalizations. The researchers found that chimpanzees can combine all of their daily calls into a single, coherent set of sounds. The sounds can be combined to express a variety of meanings.
Source: NBC News
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