Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Sixty years ago, scientists embarked on an experiment to teach American Sign Language to chimpanzees—and ultimately prove humans ...

Forty years ago, I published an article, "Can a Chimpanzee Create a Sentence?" My answer was, definitively, "No." At the time, that conclusion was controversial. It was also headline news because ...

New research suggests wild chimpanzees have developed a far more nuanced communication system than previously realized, using several mechanisms that combine their vocalizations to create new meaning.

SPOKANE, Wash. Washoe, a female chimpanzee believed to be the first non-human to acquire human language, has died of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept. Washoe, who first ...

Language processing in humans depends on the neuronal connection between language areas in the brain. Until recently, this language network was thought to be uniquely human. Now, in a discovery ...

Humans are known to invent private hand gestures. Chimps in the wild do, too, a new study suggests. By Brandon Keim Parents and their children, or people who know each other well, often share some ...

SPOKANE, Wash. — Washoe, a female chimpanzee said to be the first non-human to acquire human language, has died of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept. Washoe, who first ...

When we think about what sets humans apart from other animals, language often comes to mind. Language is more than words—it also relies on the ability to build shared understanding through ...

New research shows that chimpanzees regularly communicate with each other through rapid back-and-forth gestures, similar to how humans talk. Reading time 2 minutes Chimpanzees and humans are even more ...

Researchers have found two important building blocks of human speech in wild chimpanzees, one of our closest relatives. A pair of studies finds that chimp communication includes both rhythmic ...