Scientists understand chimpanzee sign language

HUMANS understand chimpanzee sign language, scientists say.

We still have ancient instincts that help us read hand gestures used by our ancestors before we evolved to speak.

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Great apes, including chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos, still use the same signs to communicate.

A study by the University of St. Andrews in Scotland showed 5,656 people videos of 100 monkey gestures.

The volunteers got the meaning right more than half the time—more than they would have guessed by chance.

Three quarters of people correctly guessed that a big scratch on my chest meant nursing me.

When a chimpanzee touched or tapped another’s mouth, 79 percent knew it meant “give me the food.”

Two-thirds knew that a gentle nudge from a chimpanzee or bonobo was a command to move or climb on their backs.

Study author and chimpanzee expert Dr. Cat Hobaiter said, “We can almost instinctively decipher these gestures – it’s a useful reminder that we’re great apes too.”

“Although modern humans have a language, we have retained some understanding of our common ancestral system of ape communication.”