Chimpanzees pick up communication styles from their moms, not their dads

['Ari Daniel', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Vertical-Align Middle .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar Is .Alignleft .Alignright'] TPR: The Public's Radio 2025-08-16 10:00:00

(Cathal McNaughton | PA Images via Getty Images)Human communication is a complex weave of words and gestures — a mix of vocal and visual signals. “People use vocal and visual communication in a very rich and combined way,” says Joseph Mine , a biologist at the University of Rennes in France. It’s not like the emergence of human communication is visible in the fossil record — there are no gestures enrobed in amber, no syllables imprinted upon prehistoric rock. Peeing is contagious in chimpanzees, study suggests A new study finds that captive chimpanzees may sometimes catch the urge to pee from other chimps. Human communication is a complex weave of verbal and nonverbal signals.