The researchers used video of chimps interacting with each other to isolate instances of communication between chimps and collect data on who initiated the exchange and how the animals responded to each other through gestures and other behaviors. In total, the researchers looked at more than 8,500 gestures from 252 chimpanzees.
Analyzing patterns of “conversation,” the researchers found that 14 percent of all interactions involved the exchange of gestures between interacting chimps. The majority (83 percent) of gestural interactions involved a two-part exchange of gesture for gesture. The chimps’ response times were similar to humans, but the animals took longer to respond to gestures with other behaviors.
“We found a small variation between different chimp communities, which again matches what we see in people with small cultural variations in conversational speed: some cultures have slower or faster talkers,” says Gal Badihy, the paper’s first author and researcher at the University of St. Andrews, in a news release. freedom.
Although the timing varies slightly by community, the similarities to human conversation suggest “shared mechanisms” between humans and chimpanzees, the researchers write. They write that the conversational turn may have evolved to strengthen social bonds and align both members of the exchange.
They call for future research into the communication systems of other animals in an attempt to understand why and how such norms evolved.
