chimpanzee

New research reveals that female chimpanzees experience menopause and live beyond their reproductive years, challenging previous beliefs and providing new insights into the evolution of menopause in mammals. Above is a female chimpanzee from the Ngogo community in western Uganda. Credit: The Ngogo Chimpanzee Project Research on the Ngogo community in Uganda reveals that humans humans aren’t the only primates with long post-fertile life stage. A team of researchers has been studying the Ngogo community of wild chimpanzees…

5 days agoNewsDuration 1:18Vanilla the chimpanzee, born at New York University's infamous LEMSIP laboratory, has lived in cages and enclosures for all 28 years of her life. That is, until she recently stepped into the sunshine at the Save the Chimps sanctuary and gazed in amazement at the open sky for the first time. 5 days agoNewsDuration1:18Vanilla the chimpanzee, born at New York University's infamous LEMSIP laboratory, has lived in cages and enclosures for all 28 years of her life. That is, until she recently…

The researchers found that chimpanzees consistently used standalone communication signals – such as vocalizations, manual gestures or facial expressions – across all ages and in different situations, but as they got older, they were more likely to combine different communication signals together. Credit: Dr. Jake BrookerNew research suggests that young chimpanzees meld various gestures, sounds, and facial cues in a manner that echoes how communication develops in human infants.The study, led by psychologists at Durham…

Scientists have moved one step closer to decoding the languages that animals like chimpanzees use to communicate. According to a new study published in Nature, chimpanzees have specific words, or noises, that signify different human words, and they can even be combined into “syntactic-like structures,” creating a unique chimpanzee language. The research began following anecdotal data that chimpanzees might combine different calls or noises when encountering certain creatures, like snakes. To test the data,…

We humans like to think our mastery of language sets us apart from the communication abilities of other animals, but an eye-opening new analysis of chimpanzees might force a rethink on just how unique our powers of speech really are.  In a new study, researchers analyzed almost 5,000 recordings of wild adult chimpanzee calls in Taï National Park in Côte d'Ivoire (aka Ivory Coast).When they examined the structure of the calls captured on the recordings, they were surprised to find 390 unique vocal sequences – much like…