Chimpanzee language: Communication gestures translated

[theHandpuppet]

BBC News
3 July 2014
Chimpanzee language: Communication gestures translated
By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC News

Researchers say they have translated the meaning of gestures that wild chimpanzees use to communicate.

They say wild chimps communicate 19 specific messages to one another with a "lexicon" of 66 gestures.

The scientists discovered this by following and filming communities of chimps in Uganda, and examining more than 5,000 incidents of these meaningful exchanges...

...Dr Catherine Hobaiter, who led the research, said that this was the only form of intentional communication to be recorded in the animal kingdom....

MORE at http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28023630

[DetlefK]

1. Chimpanzees developed fashion/art:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140703102612.htm

One chimpanzee stuck a blade of grass in her ear. Other chimpanzees copied that. The trend kept on after the death of the inventor even though it has absolutely no practical use.

[littlemissmartypants]

2. Kicking. Thank you. nt

[Igel]

3. I'll wait for the critiquing.

Years ago there was a similar kind of claim about the use of learned sign language with some pretty impressive footage to back it up.

It took some work to dig through the motivated thinking. The many hundreds of hours of video tape with random gestures unrelated to context and the way that the researchers kept trying to put meaning to the gestures. Until finally, out of hundreds and hundreds of hours they managed to dredge enough data to show what they always knew was true. And billed this as "science."

By the time other researchers had wasted months of their time there were so many believers that even today many believe that the original claims were proven true and that simian did, indeed, master language--words and syntax. Lies travel around the world before the true can tie its shoes.

It's a truism that scientists often don't try to falsify their theories as to accumulate evidence for them. This is still horrible science, if it merits the name "science" at all.

I'll wait before I swallow the PR. Stomach pumping is painful.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. Replication

Is really what we wait for but how likely it that others will repeat this with a hope for validation?
How much of a demand is there for this? I hope there are some eager grad students being groomed to at least consider a follow up.

[Warpy]

5. Hobaiter needs to stick her nose outside her own ivory tower

Prairie dogs have a fairly well developed language in which they describe potential predators down to sex, type, and if human, the color of clothing and whether or not there is a weapon.

They're working on deciphering dolphin calls.

I imagine language is quite common because most social critters have to communicate with each other to keep the group going.

The difference comes with linguistic media: sound, gesture, chemical.