Iconic gesturing in bonobos.

Genty E; Zuberbühler K

doi:10.4161/19420889.2014.992742

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Journal article

Iconic gesturing in bonobos.

Genty E Department of Comparative Cognition; Institute of Biology; University of Neuchâtel ; Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Zuberbühler K Department of Comparative Cognition; Institute of Biology; University of Neuchâtel; Neuchâtel, Switzerland; School of Psychology & Neuroscience; University of St Andrews; St Andrews, Scotland (UK).

2016-02-05

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Communicative & integrative biology. - 2015

English We comment on a recent behavioral study in which we describe a human-like beckoning gesture in 2 groups of bonobos, used in combination with sexual solicitation postures. The beckoning gesture fulfils key criteria of deixis and iconicity, in that it communicates to a distant recipient the desired travel path in relation to a specific social intention, i.e., to have sex at another location. We discuss this finding in light of the fact that, despite the documented great ape capacity and obvious communicative advantage, referential gestures are still surprisingly rare in their natural communication. We address several possibilities for this peculiar underuse and are most compelled by the notion that non-human primates are generally not very motivated to share their experiences of external objects or events with others, which removes most reasons for referential signaling.

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