By Christina Larson
The chimpanzees of the drum with a regular rhythm when they beat on tree trunks, according to a new study.
Chimpanzees and humans shared a common ancestor about 6 million years ago. Scientists suspect that this former ancestor should be a drummer – using beats to communicate.
“Our ability to produce rhythm – and to use it in our social worlds – it seems to be something that is prior to human man,” said the co -author of the study Cat Hobaitter, a primatologist from the University of St Andrews.
Previous research has shown that chimpanzees have their own signature battery style. A new analysis of 371 episodes of chimpanzee drum shows that the chimpanzees “clearly play their instruments – the tree trunks – with regular rhythms,” said Henkjan Honing, researcher in musical cognition of Amsterdam, who was not involved in the study.
When they delimit through the jungle, chimpanzees often grasp the large roots of tropical forest trees. Sometimes they hit them several times to create low frequency sounds that can be heard for a kilometer or more through the forest.
Scientists believe that the battery is a form of long-distance communication, perhaps to alert other chimpanzees where a chimpanzee awaits or the direction it travels.
“It is a way of registering socially,” said Hobaitter, adding that each chimpanzee has his own “individual signature – a model of beats that allows you to recognize that produces this drum”.
The new work has shown that chimpanzees from different regions of Africa drum with clearly different rhythms, Western chimpanzees preferring a more uniform beat while the oriental chimpanzees used short and long varied intervals between beats. Research was published Friday in the journal Current Biology.
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In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee drum on a hinged tree while producing a hoot pants call while he joins his group comrades in the Budongo forest in Uganda in May 2017. (Adrian Soldati via AP)
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In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee drum on a hinged tree while producing a hoot pants call while he joins his group comrades in the Budongo forest in Uganda in May 2017. (Adrian Soldati via AP)
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It is well known that chimpanzees use tools such as rocks to break nuts and stick to termites “fish” of their mounds. The roots of the trees can also be tools, according to the researchers.
The chimpanzees are selective on the roots they beat, said co-author Catherine Crockford, primatologist at the CNRS Institute for the cognitive sciences in France. Certain forms and varieties of wood create sounds that travel well through the dense jungle.
Drums are probably “a very important way to contact,” she said.
At narrower distances, chimpanzees use a more complex repertoire of vocal calls than scientists in the past, according to a study distinct from scientific advances.
The researchers analyzed how the chimpanzees combined sounds – as a call associated with rest and that used to invite the game – to create new meanings. In this example, the combined call was an invitation to nest together nearby at night.
“We have probably underestimated the flexibility and the complexity of animal communication,” said Crockford, who was one of the two research teams.
The Department of Health and Sciences of the Associated Press receives the support of the scientific and educational group of the media from the medical institute Howard Hughes and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
