recorded a whole gesture dictionary dozens of signals, expressions and movements that chimps and bonobos use to communicate. by showing videos of these gestures to volunteers, scientists discovered that more than half the time, people are able to understand the message that a wild chimp or bonobo is trying to convey. here s how a chimpanzee says groom me, please . and this is a bonobo silently demanding food from a companion. some gestures are easier for us to understand than others. this display is apparently flirtation. but the fact that we can derive meaning from these gestures suggest they provided a foundation for our own language. our last common ancestors with bonobos and chimpanzees probably used quite similar gestures. and these gestures may then have gone on to scaffold the evolution of human gesture and human language as we know it now. gorillas, orangutans and other great apes also use some of these same signals.
but the fact that we can derive meaning from these gestures suggests they provided a foundation for our own language. our last common ancestors with bonobos and chimpanzees probably used quite similar gestures. and these gestures may then have gone on to scaffold the evolution of human gesture and human language as we know it now. gorillas, orangutans and other great apes also use some of these same signals. it s something that people who work with these primates tune into every day. gesture is so important to great apes. all of the little ways they need to regulate their social interactions in these amazingly complex social worlds they live in. it s the sort of communicative grease that gets all of that working. these gestures, and our ability to interpret them, the researchers say, sends a scientific message about how our own language evolved.
to understand than others. this display is apparently flirtation. but the fact that we can derive meaning from these gestures suggest they provided a foundation for our own language. our last common ancestors with bonobos and chimpanzees probably used quite similar gestures. and these gestures may then have gone on to scaffold the evolution of human gesture and human language as we know it now. gorillas, orangutans and other great apes also use some of these same signals. it is something that people who work with these primates tune into every day. gesture is so important to great apes. all of the little ways they need to regulate their social interactions in these amazingly complex social worlds they live in. it s the sort of communicative grease that gets all of that working. these gestures and our abilities to interpret them, the researchers say, sends a scientific message about how our own language evolved. victoria gill, bbc news. time for a look at the weather,
this is kind of a starting point if we are thinking about how human gesture and language evolved. we know we are starting with this set of gestures or this gesture ability which is shared with living great apes. we are looking at some pictures as you are talking and the stroking of the mouth, for example, means, give me food, and then tearing strips from a leaf with teeth is a sign of flirtation. i am just wondering how that works in the human world instead of the chimpanzee or bonobo world! yes, that is an interesting one. they take leaves like this and they will just tear them off. there is some community differences so there is a nice new bit of research that there are community differences in how the chimps do this, and bonobos will pick off leaves and drop them. i don t know, i am not sure whether to recommend people try
including humans, and that our last common ancestors, bonobos and chimpanzees, probably used quite similar gestures. and that these gestures may have then gone on to scaffold the evolution of human gesture and human language as we know it now. some gestures are easier for us to understand than others. shaking an object like this is apparently flirtation. but people s ability to understand the messages that our closest primate cousins are trying to convey has provided researchers with a clear scientific message about how our own language might have evolved. victoria gill, bbc news. we heard from one of the study s researchers, dr kirsty graham, in that report, and now she joins us live to tell us more about the study. thank you forjoining us. tell us a bit more about exactly what it is that you have found. 50 bit more about exactly what it is that you have found. so normally, i