Latest news with #CatherineHobaiter
BBC News
12-05-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Wildlife: Do chimps have rhythm?
They might not be the next Nandi Bushell, but chimpanzees do love to drum. Wild chimpanzees have been observed for centuries drumming on tree trunks , externaland roots with their hands and feet. And now researchers have discovered that this drumming is done with deliberate rhythms to help communication. Researchers say this finding could also help explain the evolutionary origins of music. Scientists have previously found that chimpanzees drum on trees to send information to each other. They also have previously found evidence that each individual has its own signature style of drumming. But until now, it wasn't known whether they have rhythm and timing to their drumming or if it is just random experts have published research in the journal Current Biology, after observing over 350 drumming performances by chimps across several countries in Africa. And they have concluded that they do in fact have and understand rhythm. From analysing recorded performances of the drumming, scientists were able to look at the gaps between each hit, and much the those rhythms change, or stay the same. They compared this to drumming with random patterns of beats, and they found the chimps' drumming was predictable which Prof Catherine Hobaiter, a senior author of the study, explained is a strong clue of rhythm. So next time you hear a beat in the trees, it might just be a chimp putting on a special jungle concert!
Asharq Al-Awsat
11-05-2025
- Science
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Jungle Music: Chimp Drumming Reveals Building Blocks of Human Rhythm
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. Previous work showed chimpanzees pound the huge flared buttress roots of rainforest trees to broadcast low‑frequency booms through dense foliage. 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. 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 signaling 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?'
Malay Mail
10-05-2025
- Science
- Malay Mail
Jungle music: Chimp drumming reveals building blocks of human rhythm
WASHINGTON, May 11 — 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 Friday 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
SBS Australia
10-05-2025
- Science
- SBS Australia
Chimpanzees drum rhythmically 'like in human music', study finds
(The sound of chimpanzees screeching and drumming) This chimpanzee in western Africa is using a signature rhythm in its drumming according to scientists from a study that's just been published. This chimpanzee is listening to vocal sounds then responding and drumming. The new study shows chimpanzees drum with regular rhythm when they beat on tree trunks. Lead author Professor Catherine Hobaiter, from the school of psychology and neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, recorded video of the chimps drumming. Previous research has also shown that chimps in regions of west and east Africa have their own signature drumming style. Professor Hobaiter says there is a distinct difference in the tempo of the drumming. "The chimpanzees will drum on almost anything, and some chimpanzee groups live in places with very few trees or just small buttress roots, but if they get the chance, the buttressed roots of these trees, the sort of big triangular supporting structures and they would grab a hold of them with one or both hands, and they'll be kicking their feet off them to get those powerful long distance beats. But they'll also be like throwing in some hand beats and things in there. And they can really develop their incredibly fast when they drum, actually much faster than most human drummers can drum at, so they're really high tempo, lots of energy and each drum, each chimpanzee drummer has their own individual signature when they're drumming, so if I hear a chimp drumming I know if it's Fred or Bob in the forest." A new analysis of 371 bouts of chimpanzee drumming demonstrates that the chimps clearly play their instruments - the tree trunks - with regular rhythms. It reflects data that was collected by an international team of researchers over many years. The study in the journal Current Biology suggests that the ability to produce rhythm predates the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, dating back more than six million years. (The sounds of chimps screeching and drumming) When bounding through the jungle, these chimps will often grab hold of the large roots of rainforest trees that grow above the soil. Sometimes they pound them several times to create low-frequency sounds that can be heard for a kilometre or more through the forest. Scientists believe the drumming is a form of long-distance communication, perhaps to alert other chimps where one chimp is waiting - or the direction it is traveling as Professor Hobaiter explains. "First of all, it shows that in their natural behaviour, when they can fully express it in the wild, they do have a capacity for rhythm, they're using that in their social behaviour, in their social communication, just as we do. So one of the rhythms is something we call asynchrony, it's a bit like a metronome or a ticking clock. It's a very regular beat. That's what chimpanzees in West Africa use. Chimpanzees in East Africa are using long, short, long, short intervals, sort of, you know, beat, beat, space beat beat, space." (The sound of chimps hooting and drumming) This behaviour is not observed in chimpanzees outside of the wild according to the scientists. And Professor Hobaiter says the team of researchers are trying to solve the conundrum of where the rhythm comes from. "The few studies that had been done on captive apes suggested that actually they have a really difficult time with rhythm and that it wasn't maybe a natural capacity that they had. So we weren't sure what we would find, but we wanted to take a look at it because we knew that these drums are a really important component of chimpanzee social lives and also that rhythm, and we needed to find the sort of a solution to this puzzle of where did rhythm come from. If we didn't inherit it from an older ancestor? Is it really just something that makes humans human." According to Professor Hobaiter, the drumming may also be able to identify other chimp communities and is a rich way of communicating over long distances. "So they have a lot of flexibility in their drumming and it gives them lots of opportunity to encode all kinds of information on who's drumming, where in the forest they are, what their activity is. So it's a really rich way of communicating long distance for them."
The Guardian
09-05-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Chimps' rhythmic drumming could shed light on music's evolutionary roots
They might not produce Gershwin hits, but chimpanzees have got rhythm, researchers have found in a study they say sheds light on the evolutionary origins of music. Scientists have previously found chimpanzees drum on the buttress roots of trees to send information to each other, with each individual having their own signature style. However, it remained unclear whether the chimpanzees drummed rhythmically. Now researchers say they have not only found chimpanzees drum with non-random timing, but that the rhythms differ between subspecies. The team said the revelations shed light on the evolutionary origins of a feature that sits at the heart of human social behaviour, from conversation to music-making. '[The findings] are a strong suggester that those building blocks [of rhythm] that we have then used in all of our social behaviour and all of our music were present way back in our last common ancestor,' said Prof Catherine Hobaiter, a senior author of the work from the University of St Andrews. The study, published in the journal Current Biology and led by PhD student Vesta Eleuteri, reveals how the team studied 371 drumming bouts produced by 47 chimpanzees acrosssix populations from two subspecies – eastern and western chimpanzees. The team compared the drumming with random patterns of beats, revealing all the chimpanzees showed non-random timing. 'It had a predictability to it. And when you've got predictability, you've got a really strong indicator that there's rhythm there,' said Hobaiter. The researchers then compared the drumming of the two subspecies, finding western chimpanzees drummed with evenly spaced intervals between beats – like the tick of a clock – while eastern chimpanzees alternated between shorter and longer intervals, resulting in a swing-like beat. However, western chimpanzees use more hits in their drumming than eastern chimpanzees, despite the bouts lasting for the same duration, suggesting they drum with a faster tempo. In addition, the eastern and western chimpanzees drummed at different points when making what are known as 'pant-hoot' calls. The researchers say it is unclear why the subspecies drum with different rhythms, noting it does not appear to be down to ecological factors. 'If you've got an itty bitty root or an amazing rainforest tree and you're from west Africa, you'll drum more similarly to each other than a chimp from west Africa in the rainforest and a chimp from east Africa in a rainforest,' said Hobaiter. Instead, she said it might be associated with societal differences, noting eastern chimpanzees are more violent towards each other – or that chimpanzees in east Africa need to share more detailed information with each other. 'When you've got more variable intervals – those long, short, long shorts – you might be able to encode a bit more information in there, in the same way as you could with morse code rather than if you had only a sort of ticking clock sound,' Hobaiter said. Hobaiter added that while chimpanzees were not producing human-like musical rhythms, their drumming shared some of its fundamental properties, pushing back the evolutionary origins of music by several million years. 'Before humans were human – six, seven million years ago – the apes that were roaming around that eventually would evolve into chimpanzees and humans probably had some basic building blocks of rhythm,' she said.
