It's not what you say...
Orangutans gesture just as humans do in charades
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Thursday, 02, Aug 2007 10:04
Orangutans rely on the same principles of the game charades to communicate, scientists have discovered.
A study published today shows that when captive the animal intentionally changes or repeats its hand gestures to indicate what it does and does not want depending on the success of the original gesture.
Researchers from the University of St Andrews presented six captive orangutans with situations in which a tempting and not-so-tempting food item had to be reached with human help.
To test their gestures, the researchers sometimes pretended to misunderstand what the orangutans were attempting to communicate. In some cases they gave the not-so-tempting treat and in other they gave only half of the best treat.
Writing in the journal Current Biology, the researchers claim when the orangutans were partially understood they adapted their gestures and when completely misunderstood they stopped using unsuccessful gestures and tried other tactics.
"We were surprised that the orangutans' responses so clearly signalled their assessment of the audience's comprehension," commented Richard Byrne.
"Looking at the tapes of the animal's responses, you can easily work out whether the orangutan thinks it has been fully, partially, or not understood - without seeing what went before."
Fellow researcher Erica Cartmill added that "the orangutan had intended a particular result, anticipated getting it, and kept trying until it got the result".
The researchers conclude that further studies of communication among apes could provide insight into the pre-linguistic devices that helped construct the earliest forms of language.