Chimpanzees

Chimpanzees Drumming a Form of Ancient Communication

Chimpanzees drum with regular rhythm when they beat on tree trunks a new study shows.

Chimpanzees and humans last shared a common ancestor around 6,000,000 years ago. Scientists suspect this ancient ancestor must have been a drummer using beats to communicate.

“Our ability to produce rhythm and to use it in our social worlds that seems to be something that predates humans being human,” Said study coauthor, a university of Saint Andrews primatologist.

Previous research has shown that chimps have their own signature drumming style. A new analysis of 371 bouts of chimpanzee drumming demonstrates that the chimps clearly play their instruments, the tree trunks, with regular rhythms.

Scientists believe that the drumming is a form of long distance communication, perhaps to alert other chimps where one chimp is waiting or the direction it is traveling.

The new work showed that chimps from different regions of Africa drum with distinctly different rhythms, with western chimps preferring a more even beat while eastern ships used varied short and long intervals between beats.

Certain shapes in wood varieties create sounds that treble well through dense jungle. The drummings are likely a very important way to make contact. At closer distances, chimps use a repertoire of vocal calls more complex than scientists once thought. Researchers analyzed how chimps combined sounds such as a call associated with resting and one used to invite play 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 complexity of animal communication.