Chimps Use a Very Specific Secret Language to Communicate With One Another

Chimpanzees have an intricate language system experts never thought possible.

Transcript

00:00Chimpanzees are one of our closest biological cousins, but while we have an intricate system

00:08of vocal language, they're left with grunts and other simple vocalizations.

00:12Or are they?

00:13According to a new study of thousands of wild chimp recordings from along Africa's ivory

00:17coast, they might have a more complex language than previously thought.

00:21Researchers analyzed around 5,000 chimp recordings, consisting of over 900 hours of vocalizations,

00:27and they found some 390 distinct and unique vocalizations, which they say are much like

00:32sentences, pieced together from other vocalizations to create more complex meanings.

00:37Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology researcher Tatiana Bortolotto had this to

00:42say about the research.

00:43Our findings highlight a vocal communication system in chimpanzees that is much more complex

00:48and structured than previously thought.

00:50The 390 sentences were comprised of just 12 vocalizations, including grunts, barks, screams,

00:57with the researchers adding that this language goes well beyond what anyone thought possible

01:01within the non-human primate community.