A new study published in Science suggests that wild bonobos in the African rainforest can combine different calls to construct phrases with modified meanings, challenging the idea that only humans possess this ability. Researchers spent months recording bonobo vocalizations and found instances where calls conveyed messages like “I’m feeding” or “Let’s build a nest.” This discovery sheds light on the evolutionary origins of language, as bonobos and chimpanzees, humanity’s closest genetic relatives, may have shared similar communication abilities with our common ancestor millions of years ago.
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