Adult humans can understand the meaning of chimpanzee and bonobo gestures, despite not always making those gestures themselves, according to a new research from the University of St Andrews, in Scotland.
“It seems that this is an ability that’s retained in our species as well ,” said Dr Kirsty Graham, first author of the research.
The researchers used data from 5,656 players of an online game in which they were shown 20 videos of chimpanzees and bonobos making 10 of their most common gestures, including “groom me,” “give me that food,” and “let’s have sex,” along with an illustration of the gesture, to arrive at their conclusions.
Whether contextual information was provided or not, participants performed better than chance at deciphering the meanings of chimpanzee and bonobo gestures, with an average success rate of 57% if information was provided and 52% if it wasn’t. Furthermore, the findings held true whether the gesture had just one or several meanings.
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