Without a a Without FOCUS_Language munication strategies of great in natural environments, but also corvids and infants. human and corvids also but environments, natural in apes great of municationstrategies com the studies researcher the question,this investigateTo develop. they how and human Ornithology for say. we what structure and emphasize us help They speak. to how learning to vital seem acquisition,language gestures During 18 also sits down next to Bartok, he then male islessself-confident.Although he plucking attheantelope, the other stretched handandthengently starts the alphamale,opensup hisout one ofthemsimplysitsdown nextto proach Bartokandthescientist.While is sittingsoclosetohernow. and shecanhardlybelievethatBartok through Uganda’s KibaleNationalPark, quite sometimeduringherdailytreks has been following the for from theblondewoman.SimonePika dead animallessthanfourmetersaway first toeat,sohesettlesdownwiththe beg himtosharesomeofthemeat. around, somemembersofhisgroup Bartok, thealphamale,lugscarcass mediately snatchesawaytheirprey. As lope, butagroupofchimpanzeesim- boons have hunted down a small ante- A TEXT MaxPlanckResearch 2 MaxPlanckResearch Bartok, however, wantstobethe Two maleshavethecouragetoap- CATARINAPIETSCHMANN ing. Chaos is in the air. Ba - followed by hectic scurry through therainforest, of vocalizationsechoes n incrediblecacophony in Seewiesen wants to know whether gestures were an evolutionary precursor of of precursor evolutionary an were gestures whether know to wants Seewiesen in | 16 Simone Pika Simone - -

very rareand specificcontexts,suchas very tance ofatleastsevenmeters. Onlyin dis making suretokeepanobserver feeding groundsandcalls,all thewhile after day, guided bytheanimals’nests, track them down in the rainforest day chimpanzees withfood,butinstead Goodall, scientistsnolongerlurewild like inthedaysofyoungJane thinking backtothatday. Becauseun- just smilingfromeartoear,” saysPika, help sittinginthecampthatnightand thing likethisinthewild,youcan’t “When youactuallygettoseesome DISTANCE RESEARCHERSKEEP THEIR both ofthem. shares smallpiecesofthemeatwith Bartok tearstheantelopeapartand of thatdeliciousstuff.Anditworks! sage: Don’t hurtme,but givemesome expression calledafeargrin.Themes- a chimpanzeechild,andmakesfacial whimpers like backwards and forwards, ment gestures:heducksdown,sways starts makingbeggingandappease- from the Humboldt Research Group at the the at Group Research Humboldt the from Sound - - communicate witheachother mainly because individualsusegesturesto this tobearatherunlikelyscenario, many ofmycolleagues,Inowbelieve information using gestures. “But, like they couldhavecommunicatedsimple other beforeusingspeech.Thatmeans tors initially gesticulated with each guage evolve? biggest mysteries:howdidhumanlan- She wantstosolveoneofevolution’s stitute forOrnithologyinSeewiesen. Communication” attheMaxPlanckIn boldt Research Group“Evolution of 43-year-old istheLeaderofHum- changed betweentheanimals.The closer tofilmthegesturesthatareex- this minimum. from theanimalswhenitfallsbelow ing, dotheynotincreasetheirdistance the highly-arousedsituationofhunt and across short distances. short across and settings relaxed in mainly communication of form this use The gestures. via communicate also apes, great all Like According to one theory, our ances- Yet Pikadoesn’t needtogetany PlanckMax Institute - - -

Photo: Simone Pika/MPI for Ornithology Without a a Without Sound

Photo: Simone Pika/MPI for Ornithology FOCUS_Language

when they are in a relaxed setting and can touch or at least see each other,” says Pika. But what if an wants to warn other members of its group of a preda- tor, and the group is far away in the dense rainforest? “Then vocalizations are, of course, much more effective than gestures.” That is why most re- searchers now believe that calls and gestures evolved in parallel. While writing her doctoral thesis under the supervision of To- masello at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Pika studied the gestures used by go- rillas and in various wildlife parks and zoos across Europe. But is their behavior similar to that of their fellow apes living in the wild? Or do gestures. In a new study being conduct- Today, there is a scientific consensus animals in captivity gesticulate primar- ed with her postdoctoral fellow Dr. Eva that apes use gestures to communicate ily because they lack a natural environ- Luef, the researcher is therefore aiming with each other. Pointing gestures, ment and are constantly in each oth- to find out whether chimpanzees, like however, were considered to be an ex- er’s presence? , have certain greeting customs, clusively human trait until recently. Yet To find answers, the young research- and if so, whether these greetings vary chimpanzees living in zoos have been er had to observe her subjects in their depending on an individual’s social observed to clearly point to highly de- natural habitats. “In 2005, when I was rank within the group. Consequently, sirable food, such as grapes and banan- given the opportunity to study a group gestures would be relevant in situations as, indicating to their keepers: I want of chimpanzees in Kibale National in which humans, too, would talk to that! It appears that chimpanzees and Park, nothing could hold me back. I each other: in direct exchanges, when bonobos in captivity learn that they will always remember that very first individuals are in very close proximity can bring a human’s attention to a par- day: Not a single anywhere to each other. ticular object by pointing at it, and that in sight, but the forest was filled with In 2010, Pika received the Alexan- they will ultimately receive the object. their calls, which are known as pant- der von Humboldt Foundation’s Sofja This kind of exchange has only rarely hoots and can be heard hundreds of Kovalevskaja Award, which is endowed been observed in nature, and only be- meters away. The wild chimpanzees with 1.65 million euros. She uses these tween friends or between mothers and called out much more frequently than funds to study the evolution and devel- their offspring. their counterparts in captivity, indicat- opment of communication in three dif- ing to us that calls play a very different ferent model groups: in children grow- GROOM ME HERE! role in natural habitats,” Pika explains. ing up in different cultures; in great Pant-hoots let chimpanzees know apes, our closest living relatives; and in The pointing gestures that have been who is in which part of the forest and that have a similarly complex observed in chimpanzees living in their with whom. The animals also use these social structure – corvids. Using this ap- natural environments mostly occur in characteristic calls to claim rich feeding proach, Pika aims to determine the de- the context of animals grooming each grounds for themselves. When greeting gree to which our ancestors had devel- other. Grooming is more than just a hy- each other, they use quieter pant- oped communication skills, and which gienic behavior: it plays an important grunts. Pika has observed that some an- factors are responsible for the fact that role in establishing and maintaining

imals also accompany these grunts with only humans are capable of speech. social relationships. Simone Pika dis- Photo: Marlen Fröhlich/MPI for Ornithology

20 MaxPlanckResearch 2 | 16 Photo: Marlen Fröhlich/MPI for Ornithology

Photo: Kevin Langergraber/MPI for Ornithology raises his arms vertically above his above vertically arms his raises example, for Dolphi, chimpanzee male The group. a of member single one only by used are gestures Some 100 than more use Chimpanzees Right gesture-based interactiondoesn’t in- ers. Inthecaseofchimpanzees, most up objectstoshoworofferthem tooth- scuffle forthings,butthey don’t hold panzees, surprisingly, don’t. Theydo scuffle witheachotherforit. mate. And sometimes they just want to to attracttheattentionofapotential ing themtoothergroupmembers,or with theintentionofofferingorshow- vens pick up objects with their beaks pointing .Pikadiscoveredthatra- learning, buttheyalsouseobjectsas are theyintelligentandcapableof Ravens are a prime example: not only tree. gent branches of theevolutionary diver birds andhumanssitontwovery ship displays–despitethefactthat ential gestures when performing court- says theMaxPlanckresearcher. stands themeaningofgesture,” know thattheircounterpartunder- nal where.“Thismeanschimpanzees more importantly, theyusethemtosig that theywanttobegroomed,but scratching gesturestoletothersknow covered that chimpanzees use distinct group. the follow should he that (front) male alpha the to signal to head back. mom’s onto Park: r the in places safest the of one to go to time it’s that child her telling is mother chimpanzee this contact, eye making and arm her out stretching By around. them carry mothers their less the become, chimpanzees independentyoung more The Left a inforest of Uganda’s Kibale National National Kibale Uganda’s of inforest different types of gestures. gestures. of types different “Children dothattoo– and chim Many speciesofbirdsalsouserefer-

- - - on thebodypartsthatareout oftheir each other–calledpreening –butonly ing onintheirimmediatesurroundings. never toinformthemofsomething go- attract theattentionofconspecifics, but that apesusepointinggesturesonlyto volve objects,”saysPika.Thisindicates Just likeapes,ravensalso groom raven lying on its back is sending a dif- their backs when they are dead. Yet a their backs.Normally, birdsonlylieon and slidingdownasnowy slopeon birds alsoenjoyspreadingtheir wings part oftheirbodythatitches. Young er totheirpartnerandpresentingthe own reach.Theydosobyscootingclos 2 | MaxPlanckResearch 16MaxPlanckResearch 21 - 22 thathumansandapes not everything reasons why gestures evolved. After all, pendent evolutionandunderstandthe er suchexamplesofsimilaryetinde- tor. “Studyingravenshelpsusuncov- this behaviorfromacommonances- two differentspeciescan’t havelearned case ofparallelevolution,becausethe ravens andapesarethereforeatypical make kickinggestureswiththeirfeet. healthy! Ravensarealsoknownto crazy positionbecauseIamstrongand ferent message:Icanaffordtolieinthis MaxPlanckResearch 2 MaxPlanckResearch The pointing gestures displayed by PARENTS, JOININ THE RESEARCH! of anonymously taking part in the “Milestones of Language” study, which start- which study, Language” of “Milestones in the part taking anonymously of 0 of to ages the from development language child’s their of stages the record to wish who parents for calendar speech a developed Krug Monika assistant and her Pika Simone words! first the finally then and gestures, then sounds, First calendar,visit please language the of version download the and information detailed more For November in ed 24 months. Parents interested in participating in this study have the option 2015 | 16 and runs until the end of 2017. of end the until runs and www.orn.mpg.de/milestones mon ancestors,”saysSimonePika. do was necessarily done by our com- and wantedtofindoutmore. as aresultofherworkwithgreatapes daughter, was sensitizedtothistopic the motherofanalmosttwo-year-old been conductedinthisarea.Pika,now To littleresearch date,though,very has nication before they learn to speak. and toddlers,gesturesareakeycommu hausted parents.Butevenforbabies sometimes muchtothechagrinofex- municate fromthedaytheyareborn– Humans usevocalizationstocom - - But whydoadultsgesticulate? Forone want, Mommy! want, asiftosay:Thisteddy bear, I ents whenpointingtoanobject they establish eyecontactwith theirpar in theirdevelopmentdochildrenalso their thoughts,”saysPika.Onlylater ternalize somethingandstructure it becausethegesturehelpsthemin- tend totheirgestures.Maybetheydo without makingsurethatothersat “Initially, theypointatsomething dlers startusingpointinggestures. of ninetotwelvemonths,mosttod that appeartobequestions.Attheage are capableofsayingthreewords. months untilthetimeatwhichthey ents fromtheageoffiveandahalf toddlers communicatewiththeirpar of herworkinggroup,Pikastudiedhow wild geese.Together withthemembers Konrad Lorenzonceusedtoobserve behavioralscientist that legendary room fortoddlersinalakesidebuilding tute inSeewiesen,shesetupaplay started to work at the Max Planck Insti- That’s why, fouryearsago,whenshe Gestures helpchildrenlearnto speak. Very earlyon,childrenuttersounds - - - - -

Photo: Valentin Rodriguez/agefotostock/Avenue Images Photo: Valentin Rodriguez/agefotostock/Avenue Images

Photo: MPI for Ornithology er tongue,aswell. gesticulating moreinhisor hermoth- a lotofgestures,personwill soonstart ing alanguagethattraditionally uses study alsorevealedthat,when learn- speaking theirsecondlanguage. The tend tousemorevisualgestureswhen native language.Inthatcase,people ly when they aremorefluent in their their secondlanguage?Yes –especial- their mothertonguethantheydoin Do peoplegesticulatedifferentlyin ada: gesturesusedbybilingualadults. Edmonton UniversityinAlberta,Can- studied aninterestingphenomenonat tures theyuse. the subject,moreillustrativeges- intoddlers:themoredifficult served our thoughts.Thisiscommonlyob tist explains.Gestureshelpusstructure faster thanourmouthdoes,”thescien- tered. Our hands communicate an idea while therespectivewordisbeingut- gestures arealwaysformedbeforeor selves. Thisisevidentfromthefactthat we’re saying.“Butwealsodoitforour- our conversationpartnervisualizewhat thing, wetalkwithourhandstohelp evolve. signals communicative their how about more out find to ravens hand-raised and captive with works she Seewiesen, In Austria. Grünau, in Park Wildlife Cumberland the at colony raven a in living ravens marked individually by used gestures Right Simone Pika studied the bodyparts. r social nurture and strengthen also birds these apes, to Similar animals. social very are Ravens Left e lationships by preening distinct distinct preening by lationships From 2003to2005,SimonePika

- son. Andshecombinedsigns onher her trainers,butalsowith adopt language tocommunicatenot onlywith ican SignLanguage. usedsign Washoe morethan 300signsinAmer- teach afemalechimpanzee named In thelate1960s,scientistswereableto PIONEERS OF THE FIELD ing complexsounds,letalonewords. vent monkeysandapesfromproduc ral connections with the tongue pre anditsneu- the anatomyoflarynx learned tospeak.Today we knowthat in vain–noneoftheanimalsever Africa fornineyears.Yet alleffortswere example, livedwithafamilyinCentral household. AgorillanamedToto, for apes likehumanchildreninanormal al attemptsweremadetoraisebaby baby chimpanzees.Atthattime,sever- that aresurprisinglysimilartothoseof clude gesturesandfacialexpressions a child’s firstattemptsatspeakingin- da Ladygina-Kohts.Shediscoveredthat and apes wasRussianscientist Nadezh- lution of communication in humans The firstresearcher tocompare theevo- ­ ed - - thought thattheycanorwant topass They don’t seemtopossessaworldof only reasonapesareincapable ofspeech. what willhappentomorrow. about what happened yesterday or apes don’t communicatetheirthoughts explains, chimpanzees and other great garden,” says Pika. Unlikehumans, she to eat,Iwantplay, let’s goouttothe in thepresentmomenttime:Iwant communication dealtwiththemselves is highly significant – most of their taught. Furthermore–andIbelievethis theywere using thebasicvocabulary rarely didtheanimalscreatenewwords stands for“banana.” symbol. Thekeywiththetriangleonit za, forexample,hepressesthepound jects. When he is in the mood for piz- but do not resemble – particular ob- keyboard withsymbolsthatstandfor– namedKanziisabletousea also learned sign language. A signed “water”and“bird.” time shesawaduck,forexample, own toformnewmeanings:thefirst So anatomicalfeaturesaren’t the “But theseareisolatedcases.Very The gorilla andthe 2 | MaxPlanckResearch 16MaxPlanckResearch FOCUS_Language 23 FOCUS_Language

A comparison of the complexity of vocalizations and gestures produced » by great apes doesn’t help explain the evolution of language.

on using language. For them, gestures and sounds, such as mobile phone ring- words, the recipient of the gesture re- are thus an efficient form of commu- tones or the noise of a revving engine. sponds even before the entire message nication without symbolism. Howev- However, birds don’t appear to use has been conveyed. er, it does bear a certain resemblance their songs to communicate something In the case of chimpanzees, in con- to human language and human com- new to their conspecifics. “The main trast, communication between mother munication in terms of the underlying message of birdsong is: ‘This is my ter- and child is often characterized by long­ structure of communication, which in- ritory!’ and ‘Look how impressive I er negotiations: the mother turns to- cludes cooperation, turn-taking behav- am!’” says Pika. Consequently, this is ward her child and extends her arm in iors and negotiation. another communication structure that its direction. They both look at each In the animal kingdom, it is bird- differs significantly from human lan- other. The mother moves her arm in the song that comes closest to the complex- guage in many respects. offspring’s direction once again, but this ity of human language, especially as re- time faster and using a shorter range of gards the ability to learn and form new BONOBOS COMMUNICATE motion. Only now does her child walk combinations: Songbirds and parrots FASTER THAN CHIMPANZEES up to her and climb onto her back. are able to recombine individual notes These observations may indicate and note sequences to create new vers- Back to gestural signaling of great apes: that bonobos anticipate their counter- es. Moreover, they imitate notes, voices in a comparative study into the commu- part’s actions much more quickly than nication strategies of wild chimpanzees chimpanzees. Or that they can simply in Uganda and Ivory Coast and bono- afford to react more quickly, thus pos- bos in the Democratic Republic of the sibly choosing a “wrong” response, be- carried out with her doctoral stu- cause their is more tolerant and dent Marlen Fröhlich and other col- less aggressive. Furthermore, the fe- leagues, Pika discovered that there are males have greater influence. These dif- even differences in the way closely relat- ferent communication styles corre- ed species – such as chimpanzees and spond to the results of comparative bonobos – communicate. The scientists studies that focus on the structure of discovered that bonobo mothers and the brain: the regions that play an im- their children exchange information portant role in the ability to feel empa- faster and more fluently than chimpan- thy are more developed in bonobos zee mothers and their offspring. than in chimpanzees. Temporal relationships between so- In light of her findings, Simone Pika cial actions involved in bonobo gestur- concludes that, “The similarities and al sequences are more similar to social differences between the vocalized actions in human conversations than sounds and gestures of our closest ex- to those of chimpanzees. For example, tant relatives won’t help us solve the when a bonobo mother wants to get up mystery of how language evolved. Lan- and leave, she turns toward her child guage is based on a range of cognitive and holds out her outstretched arm in skills that already existed before the ad- the child’s direction. Almost simulta- vent of speech.” neously, the offspring walks up to her One of the prerequisites for acquir- and climbs onto her back. In other ing language is what is known as inter- active . When we talk to When toddlers point at something, they each other, we continuously alternate: initially do it for themselves. A little later in one person speaks, the other listens, their development, they learn that gestures then the listener replies, and so on. A can convey distinct messages to others. They then start making with their conversation is like a game of ping-

parents to make sure they have their attention. pong, where questions and answers fly Photo: Catherine Delahaye/Mauritius Images

24 MaxPlanckResearch 2 | 16 A comparison of the complexity of vocalizations and gestures produced by great apes doesn’t help explain the evolution of language.

Simone Pika studies the development of communication in individuals from three model groups: human children from different cultural backgrounds, several species of great apes (bonobos, chimpan- zees and gorillas) and corvids (crows and ravens). Her findings show that gestures are particularly developed in social animals that cooperate with members of their own species.

back and forth; a game based on a spe- cific set of rules as regards the roles of the participants and the temporal se- quence. The speaker and the listener cooperate with each other – otherwise, their communication would fail. Can precursors of this type of coop- it grows from generation to generation. skill before we did? Is the thought of a eration be observed in apes? “Clearly, “There’s no doubt about it: language distant planet in another galaxy where yes,” says Pika. When a mother plans makes us humans one of the most pow- apes actually are in charge really just to leave and wants her child to come erful species on earth,” Pika emphasizes. science fiction? If not, we can only with her, she must make it clear that But what if evolution had taken a hope that they treat their closest rela- the gesture is directed at her infant, and slightly different course? What if goril- tives with greater respect than we treat also make sure that her offspring under- las and chimpanzees had acquired this them here on earth. stands what she intends to communi-

cate. Without such communicative co- operation between mother and child, such an interaction would not work. TO THE POINT So is essen- l Gestures foster human language: they help babies learn to speak. Adults use tially not all that different from human gestures to emphasize what they say and to structure their thoughts. communication with regard to the type l Gestures alone are not the precursors of human language.

and purpose of the exchange. Yet ani- l Many different species of animals also communicate using gestures. Great apes mals appear to manage just fine with- and ravens even point at things to draw the attention of other members of out language. Would it even be advan- their species to particular objects. tageous for chimpanzees if they could speak? Simone Pika nods. “Of course. Language has virtually catapulted us GLOSSARY into a new universe: We can think about Bonobos: Along with chimpanzees ( troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus) are our symbols and exchange information closest extant relatives. Although they are also called pygmy chimpanzees, they are about objects that aren’t in our immedi- almost the same size as chimpanzees. However, their body and head are more graceful, their face is darker, and the mouth of bonobo children has a more reddish hue than ate vicinity or that don’t even exist, that of young chimpanzees. Bonobos are found only in the Democratic Republic of the about things that happened yesterday or Congo, south of the . that might happen tomorrow.” Pant-hoots: These particularly loud calls emitted by chimpanzees can be heard in the Moreover, language is the founda- rainforest from miles away. The calls generally consist of several elements, which tion of writing. Writing allows us to re- can vary in their structure. Chimpanzees can recognize each other by their pant-hoots cord our experiences and pass them on and use this distinct call in different contexts, such as when traveling through the to our descendants. This ensures that rainforest or arriving at rich feeding grounds.

Photo: Catherine Delahaye/Mauritius Images Photo: Jens Küsters/Humboldt Foundation our knowledge doesn’t get lost, and that

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