SCIENTISTS in the UK, specifically primatologists, have come up with the amazing fact that chimpanzees have a complex sign language, making them the only creatures in the animal kingdom (apart from us, of course) to have a communal means of communication.
The scientists, led by Dr Catherine Hobaiter of St Andrews University in Scotland, have spent years following and filming chimps in Uganda and have come up with the remarkable revelation that they have a complex sign language conveying at least 19 very specific messages through a lexicon of at least 66 gestures*.
These fully intentional messages include: ‘Groom me here’ (to another individual), ‘Let’s have a mutual grooming session’ (to at least one other chimp), ‘Climb onto my back’ (a mother to her youngster), ‘Move up!’ (to a chimp already sitting when more sitting space is required), ‘Move away!’ (it’s getting personal), and then (my personal favourite) ‘Flirt with me!’ and finally, apparently as a change of heart following the previous one, ‘Stop that!’
There are more, but that gives you an idea of the chimp language. It is to be remembered that THE chimp specialist, Dr Jane Goodall, and many other scientists and specifically primatologists, reckon that chimps share over 98.5 percent of their DNA with us humans (there are other scientists who dispute this, naturally, but never beyond at least sharing 95 percent).
Therefore, is it really surprising that chimps have developed a sign language, and don’t forget that they also have a comprehensive lexicon of vocalised communication, grunts and screams and the like (as a matter of interest, Dr Jane spoke fluent chimp – to hear her talk chimp was goose-bump stuff).
Dr Jane says in one of her books**, ‘Of all the characteristics that differentiate humans from their non-human cousins, the ability to communicate through the use of a sophisticated spoken language is, I believe, the most significant…Their calls, postures and gestures, together, add up to a rich repertoire, a complex and sophisticated method of communication, but it is non-verbal’.
By the way, Dr Jane’s chimp speak was amazing to hear, she really did sound like one of them. Well, regardless, they don’t speak, as yet, but they do make tools and they do, most importantly, make war, which makes that 98.5 percent perhaps a little too close for comfort.
All very interesting, but what about our monkeys, our very own vervets, do they have a secret language? In a discussion on communication among monkeys, including vervets, the Oxford New Encyclopedia of Mammals*** says, ‘There are profound differences between monkeys’ vocalisations and human language. Unlike humans, monkeys appear not to invent new ‘words’ for new circumstances; they do not modify their calls, do not learn new ones’.
Fascinating. Monkey vocalisations, or monkey talk, I rather think it’s a subject we need to come back to, and soon. Cheers!
*BBC News.
**Through a Window, Jane Goodall, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 1990.
***The New Encyclopedia of Mammals, Editor: David Macdonald, Oxford University Press, 2001.
