cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/20552153
While bonobos (Pan paniscus) produce grunts, peeps, whistles and hoots, they also combine these calls to create new meanings, researchers found, suggesting they may share a trait once deemed uniquely human: a complex language structure called nontrivial compositionality.
The researchers say these findings may be a clue toward how early human language began to develop. “One interpretation of the data could be that nontrivial compositionality can be traced as far back as the last common ancestor of bonobos and humans, 7 million to 13 million years ago,” the authors write.
It could also mean that many more forms of life communicate in this way but have not been studied before.