WIKIMEDIA, MATTHEW HOELSCHERCaptive chimpanzees can learn new vocalizations to refer to specific objects from chimps raised in a different environment, according to a study published this week (February 5) in Current Biology.
In 2010, a group of chimps raised at a safari park in the Netherlands was integrated with a group at the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland. Prior to the move, the Dutch chimps were enthusiastic about apples and used high-pitched calls to refer to them, whereas the Scottish apes voiced their displeasure for apples by referring to them with low grunts. As the two groups became more closely knit over the following three years, the chimps maintained their respective apple preferences, but a team of researchers from the Universities of York, Zurich, and St Andrews noted that the apes from the Netherlands began referring to apples with the Scottish group’s grunting.
“As far as we know, this is the first evidence we’ve seen of a referential ...
