Latest news with #VestaEleuteri
Miami Herald
5 days ago
- Science
- Miami Herald
Elephants use gestures intentionally — just like humans, new evidence shows
For the first time, researchers have collected evidence that African elephants intentionally and creatively use gestures to signal what they want — a method of communication associated with human language. The team found that elephants can recognize when someone is paying attention or not, persist with gesturing when their desire is only partially filled, and make their gesturing more elaborate when their first attempts are unsuccessful, according to a study published July 9 in the journal Royal Society Open Science. These are the main criteria for a behavior called 'goal-directed intentionality,' and, outside of human communication, it has only been widely documented in primates, with some individual exceptions in non-primate species, according to the study. The study was conducted using semi-captive elephants on reserves in the in Victoria Falls area of Zimbabwe. During the experiment, researchers put a desirable item — a tray full of apples — and a non-desirable item — an empty tray — just out of reach of 17 elephants, creating a scenario in which they can gesture to a human to request the desired item, referred to as their goal. The team documented 38 unique gestures used by the elephants. They did not waste their time gesturing when it appeared the researchers were not paying attention, and their gestures were directed only at the tray full of apples. One of the most interesting findings is that elephants pivoted their approach when they weren't 100% successful. Researcher Vesta Eleuteri told Science some elephants got 'insanely creative' with their gestures when experimenters only gave them a portion of what they wanted, saying one threw sand, another drummed on the ground with a stick, and a third blew a leaf into the air with his truck. This demonstrates their ability to adapt their communication strategy and recognize when a previous tactic wasn't quite working. Future studies should explore whether free-ranging elephants gesture intentionally to each other to communicate in the same way, researchers said. The research team included Vesta Eleuteri, Lucy Bates, Yvonne Nyaradzo Masarira, Joshua M. Plotnik, Catherine Hobaiter and Angela S. Stoeger.
New York Times
09-07-2025
- Science
- New York Times
How Elephants Say They Like Them Apples
If you give an elephant an apple, she's going to want some more. But how can she get through to the nearby humans who are keeping those luscious treats away from her? After working with elephants in Zimbabwe, researchers reported that the animals are capable of making very deliberate gestures to communicate that desire for more. Their study was published Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science. In the study of the evolution of language and other forms of communication, researchers have long been interested in whether nonhuman animals use gestures. That's because gestures can reveal to what extent individuals are aware of the attention and inner state of others. Identifying creatures that use movement to elicit behavior from others can help reveal how and when, in the family tree of life, complex communication evolved. Many studies about gestures focus on primates. But elephants are another natural subject for this research because they live in groups and have elaborate social lives. Perhaps they, too, use movement to communicate. To understand the research, think of how humans get others to do what they want. Vesta Eleuteri, a researcher at the University of Vienna and the study's lead author, explained how she might signal to a friend non-verbally to pass her a bottle of water. 'I first check if you are looking at me,' she said. 'If you are looking at me, I might point at the bottle.' After that signal, 'I wait for you to react. If you don't react, I persist. I might reach toward the bottle, I might wave toward the bottle. Once you give me the bottle, I stop gesturing.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBC
23-05-2025
- Science
- CBC
May 24: How to live forever, and more...
Apart from their rich vocal palette, chimpanzees drum on trees to communicate over long distances. A new interdisciplinary study, led in part by PhD student Vesta Eleuteri and primatologist Cat Hobaiter from the University of St. Andrews, investigated the rhythms they used and found that different populations drum with rhythms similar to the beats in human music. The research was published in the journal Current Biology. The Archaeopteryx, a 150-million-year-old bird-like dinosaur, is known from about a dozen fossils found in Germany. A new one recently studied at Chicago's Field Museum may be the best preserved yet. It's giving researchers, like paleontologist Jingmai O'Connor, new insights into how the ancient animal moved around the Jurassic landscape. The research was published in the journal Nature. Inspired by the structure of bone, researchers have created limestone-like biomineralized construction materials using a fungal-scaffold that they seeded with bacteria. Montana State University's Chelsea Heveran said they demonstrated they could mould it into specific shapes with internal properties similar to bone, and that it remained alive for a month. It's early days yet, but she envisions a day when they can grow living structural material on site that may even be able to heal themselves. The study is in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science. Scientists have created a clever combination of physical sensors and computer technology to produce a flexible Band-Aid-like device that can accurately read emotions when it is stuck to the face. It's not quite mind reading, but it could give physicians better insight into the emotional state of their patients. Huanyu Cheng of Penn State led the work, which was published in the journal Nano Letters. Do you want to live forever? As he noticed himself showing signs of aging, immunologist John Tregoning decided to find out what he could do to make that possible. So he explored the investigations that scientists are doing into why we age and die — and tried a few experiments on himself. Bob speaks with him about his new book, Live Forever? A Curious Scientists' Guide to Wellness, Ageing and Death. Tregoning dutifully documents everything he discovers as he undergoes testing for his heart, gets his genes sequenced, has a bronchoscopy, and follows an extreme diet, among other experiments. But he comes to the conclusion that "when it comes to improving life outcomes, exercise considerably trumps nearly everything I am planning to do whilst writing this book."
The Star
21-05-2025
- Science
- The Star
Chimp drumming reveals building blocks of human rhythm
A file photo from 2016 of a male chimpanzee making a pant-hoot call to distant group members in Uganda's Budongo Forest. — ADRIAN SOLDATI/AP Out west, they groove with fast, evenly spaced beats. In the east, it's more free-form and fluid. Like humans, chimpanzees drum with distinct rhythms – and two subspecies living on opposite sides of Africa have their own signature styles, according to a study published in Current Biology. The idea that ape drumming might hold clues to the origins of human musicality has long fascinated scientists, but collecting enough clean data amid the cacophony of the jungle had, until now, proven elusive. 'Finally we've been able to quantify that chimps drum rhythmically – they don't just randomly drum,' said lead author Vesta Eleuteri of the University of Vienna in Austria. The findings lend fresh weight to the theory that the raw ingredients of human music were present before our evolutionary split from chimpanzees six million years ago. Previous work showed chimpanzees pound the huge flared buttress roots of rainforest trees to broadcast low frequency booms through dense foliage. Scientists believe these rhythmic signals help transmit information across both short and long distances. Chimpanzees drum with definitive rhythmic intent, and the timing of their strikes is not random. For the new study, Eleuteri and colleagues – including senior authors Catherine Hobaiter of the University of St. Andrews in Britain and Andrea Ravignani of Sapienza University in Rome, Italy – compiled more than a century's worth of observational data. After cutting through the noise, the team focused on 371 high-quality drumming bouts recorded from 11 chimpanzee communities across six populations living in both rainforest and savannah-woodland habitats across eastern and western Africa. Their analysis showed that chimpanzees drum with definitive rhythmic intent – the timing of their strikes is not random. Distinct differences also emerged between subspecies: Western chimpanzees tended to produce more evenly timed beats, while eastern chimpanzees more frequently alternated between shorter and longer intervals. Western chimps also drummed more frequently, kept a quicker tempo, and began drumming earlier in their signature chimp calls, made up of rapid pants and hoots. The researchers do not yet know what is driving the differences – but they propose that it might signify differences in social dynamics. The western chimps' faster, predictable pulse might promote or be evidence of greater social cohesion, the authors argue, noting that western groups are generally less aggressive toward outsiders. By contrast, the eastern apes' variable rhythms could carry extra nuance – handy for locating or signalling companions when their parties are more widely dispersed. Next, Hobaiter says she would like to study the data further to understand whether there are inter-generational differences between rhythms within the same groups. 'Music is not only a difference between different musical styles, but a musical style like rock or jazz, is itself going to evolve over time,' she said. 'We're actually going to have to find a way to tease apart group and intergenerational differences to get at that question of whether or not it is socially learned,' she said. 'Do you have one guy that comes in with a new style and the next generation picks it up?' – AFP
Sinar Daily
17-05-2025
- Science
- Sinar Daily
Do chimpanzees have their own music? Study reveals rhythmic drumming
The idea that ape drumming might hold clues to the origins of human musicality has long fascinated scientists, but collecting enough clean data amid the cacophony of the jungle had, until now, proven elusive. 17 May 2025 07:04pm Like humans, chimpanzees drum with distinct rhythms -- and two subspecies living on opposite sides of Africa have their own signature styles, according to a study published recently in Current Biology. - AFP file photo WASHINGTON - Out west, they groove with fast, evenly spaced beats. In the east, it's more free-form and fluid. Like humans, chimpanzees drum with distinct rhythms -- and two subspecies living on opposite sides of Africa have their own signature styles, according to a study published recently in Current Biology. The idea that ape drumming might hold clues to the origins of human musicality has long fascinated scientists, but collecting enough clean data amid the cacophony of the jungle had, until now, proven elusive. "Finally we've been able to quantify that chimps drum rhythmically -- they don't just randomly drum," lead author Vesta Eleuteri of the University of Vienna told AFP. The findings lend fresh weight to the theory that the raw ingredients of human music were present before our evolutionary split from chimpanzees six million years ago. Previous work showed chimpanzees pound the huge flared buttress roots of rainforest trees to broadcast low frequency booms through dense foliage. Scientists believe these rhythmic signals help transmit information across both short and long distances. For the new study, Eleuteri and colleagues -- including senior authors Catherine Hobaiter of the University of St. Andrews in the UK and Andrea Ravignani of Sapienza University in Rome -- compiled more than a century's worth of observational data. After cutting through the noise, the team focused on 371 high-quality drumming bouts recorded from 11 chimpanzee communities across six populations living in both rainforest and savannah-woodland habitats across eastern and western Africa. Their analysis showed that chimpanzees drum with definitive rhythmic intent -- the timing of their strikes is not random. Distinct differences also emerged between subspecies: western chimpanzees tended to produce more evenly timed beats, while eastern chimpanzees more frequently alternated between shorter and longer intervals. Western chimps also drummed more frequently, kept a quicker tempo, and began drumming earlier in their signature chimp calls, made up of rapid pants and hoots. The researchers do not yet know what is driving the differences -- but they propose that it might signify differences in social dynamics. The western chimps' faster, predictable pulse might promote or be evidence of greater social cohesion, the authors argue, noting that western groups are generally less aggressive toward outsiders. By contrast, the eastern apes' variable rhythms could carry extra nuance -- handy for locating or signalling companions when their parties are more widely dispersed. Next, Hobaiter says she would like to study the data further to understand whether there are intergenerational differences between rhythms within the same groups. "Music is not only a difference between different musical styles, but a musical style like rock or jazz, is itself going to evolve over time," she said. "We're actually going to have to find a way to tease apart group and intergenerational differences to get at that question of whether or not it is socially learned," she said. "Do you have one guy that comes in with a new style and the next generation picks it up?" - AFP
