communication
Communication
Chimpanzees communicate in many ways, most notably through sounds and calls. They also communicate with each other through touch, facial expressions and body language.
Scientists study orangutan gestures and body language
Scientists have identified more than 40 gestures used by orangutans to communicate.
To initiate play, for example, the apes used gestures including back rolls and blowing rasberries, while, quite familiarly "nudge and 'shoo' movements meant an ape wanted to be left alone."
Two scientists from the University of St Andrews in Scotland observed 28 orangutans at Twycross Zoo in the UK, Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands, and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey.
A Bonobo 'No'
It's a scenario you'll recognize. A Mom's firm "no," via shade of the head, to her toddler, who is getting into something he or she shouldn't.
Scientists studying great ape infant behavior witnessed 4 bonobos shaking their heads in ways that appeared to mean "no" on 13 different occasions. The observation raises the question: Is the "no" head shake hard-coded in humans?
Chimpanzees
At the turn of the 20th Century, they numbered between 1 and 2 million . . . now there are estimated to be fewer than 300,000 chimpanzees remaining in the wild. Incredibly—over the past 100 years—we may have lost as many as 1.7 million of the chimpanzees that roamed the forests of Africa.
When a 26-year-old Jane Goodall first arrived at the then Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in the British protectorate of Tanganyika, she brought only, her binoculars and notebooks.
