Some Say That Chimps and Humans Communicate in Their Interactions
Interactions between humans and chimps are by no means a small matter. In fact, chimps and zoo visitors have also been known to interact via imitation. A 2017 study published in the journal Primates found that zoo visitors and chimps are just as likely to imitate each other. The actions copied by the humans and the chimps included hand claps, knocking on enclosure windows, or kissing.
“This is where things get interesting. Since both species imitated actions they were already highly familiar with, this imitation can’t have been a method of learning but rather appeared to be a way of communicating,” Lund University researchers Gabriela-Alina Sauciuc and Tomas Persson wrote in an article about their study in the Conversation.
Of course, since we’re living in a pandemic, the poor chimps are deprived of this type of communication as well.
