Edinburgh – Whether it’s a barm, a bap or a cob, chances are you have a preferred word for a bread roll – depending on where you’re from.
And now researchers have discovered chimpanzees are also selective about the way they communicate over what they eat.
Recordings of a group of chimps reveal they have special grunts for different types of food, which differ from group to group.
Unlike humans, however, they are prepared to adapt their language when outsiders join their tribe.
Whereas you would probably be laughed out of a sandwich shop in Sheffield if you asked for a bap instead of a breadcake, chimpanzees are far more flexible with their grunts.
Recordings at Edinburgh Zoo revealed that the chimpanzees altered their grunts for apples over a number of months after another group arrived from Beekse Bergen Safari Park in Holland. Researchers from York University found that before the animals were integrated, the two groups had different grunts for apples, but within months each modified the structure of their grunts so that three years after they were joined, the two groups had very similar calls.
The research provides the first evidence that primates not only have a form of language, but also that they quickly adapt to absorb outsiders.
The findings, published in the journal Current Biology, suggest that human language is not as uniquely human as we previously thought.
Research leader Dr Katie Slocombe said: ‘An extraordinary feature of human language is our ability to reference external objects and events with socially learned symbols, or words.
‘These data represent the first evidence of non-human animals actively modifying and socially learning the structure of a meaningful referential vocalisation.’
Daily Mail