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Humans may share an ancient form of communication with great apes
Earth dot com ^ | September 17, 2019 | Chrissy Sexton

Posted on 11/03/2019 1:38:22 PM PST by SunkenCiv

A team of scientists at the University of St. Andrews has been investigating the various gestures used for communication among chimpanzees and bonobos, which are two of the closest related species to humans. After discovering that chimps and bonobos share many of the same gestures, the researchers theorize that this language may have been inherited from our last common ancestor.

Gestures may not be full-blown languages with grammatical rules, but these signals still have meaning. For example, chimpanzees stroke their mouths to request food or raise their arms to request grooming.

While shooting and analyzing videos of wild bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the researchers observed signals that were very similar to those used by chimpanzees. In fact, the scientists found that 90 percent of gestures used by bonobos and chimps were shared...

The researchers conducted an experiment where participants watched short video clips of ten common signs made by chimpanzees and bonobos. Presented with four options, the individuals chose the correct meaning of the signals at least 52 percent of the time. According to Graham, some gestures had success rates of over 80 percent, such as when a chimp strokes near its mouth to request food...

Out of 52 types of gestures recorded by the team, almost 90 percent were shared with chimps. "46 of the 52 gestures described for children were also present in the chimpanzee repertoire, an overlap of 89%," wrote the study authors.

(Excerpt) Read more at earth.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: commongestures; gestures; godsgravesglyphs; humangestures
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To: stanne
>we are animals thing

Still waiting for the first PETA protest of Planned Parenthood.

21 posted on 11/03/2019 3:16:24 PM PST by JohnBovenmyer (waiting for the tweets to hatch)
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To: ModelBreaker

Shiv is definitely a poop thrower...


22 posted on 11/03/2019 3:28:44 PM PST by cgbg (Vote Trump or you will _be_ Trump)
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To: SunkenCiv

23 posted on 11/03/2019 3:42:19 PM PST by plain talk
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To: Grimmy

We used to do that when checking for ticks...

Song: “I’d like to check you for ticks”
https://youtu.be/3tiPndMqxLQ


24 posted on 11/03/2019 3:48:35 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: rightwingcrazy

How many species pantomime?


25 posted on 11/03/2019 3:52:13 PM PST by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
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To: SunkenCiv
monkey-hand-ok-gesture-color-sketch-engraving-vector-25565227
26 posted on 11/03/2019 4:12:46 PM PST by Maurice Tift (Never wear anything that panics the cat. -- P.J. O'Rourke)
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To: SunkenCiv

Just look at the Democrats in Congress. That will confirm the theory.


27 posted on 11/03/2019 6:08:43 PM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: philman_36

And dogs sniff each other’s butts as a greeting.
Does that mean Democrats are dogs and not human?

Oh, wait...bad analogy. Never mind.


Just at the Pete Buttigieg rallies


28 posted on 11/03/2019 6:51:06 PM PST by GaryCrow
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