Huu huu huu, grugniti, respiri affannosi, schiocchi delle labbra ed urla: sono suoni casuali? Niente affatto. I versi tipici degli scimpanzé formerebbero, invece, un sistema linguistico molto più complesso e strutturato di quanto inizialmente pensato, formato da oltre 390 sequenze. Lo attesta uno studio dell’istituto francese per le scienze cognitive CNRS e pubblicato su Communications Biology.
“Non è una vera lingua, ma uno dei sistemi di comunicazione più sviluppati del mondo animale”, ha detto l’ecologista comportamentale Cédric Girard-Buttoz, che con la sua squadra ha analizzato ben 4'800 vocalizzazioni di primati selvatici.
Insieme ai bonobo, gli scimpanzé sono i nostri “parenti” più stretti dal punto di vista genetico. Vista tale vicinanza, sono studiati per comprendere come i primi esseri umani interagivano tra loro e come questi hanno iniziato a modellare la natura intorno a loro, milioni di anni fa.
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