Chimps display their distinctive drum rhythms

• Scientists claim that wild chimpanzees have a distinct “signature drumming technique.”
• Chimpanzees beat out signals to one another on tree roots, according to researchers who observed and researched the animals in the Ugandan rainforest.
• The distinctive rhythms enable them to communicate over great distances, showing who is where and what they are doing.

Scientists claim that wild chimpanzees have a distinct “signature drumming technique.” Chimpanzees beat out signals to one another on tree roots, according to researchers who observed and researched the animals in the Ugandan rainforest.

According to the researchers, the distinctive rhythms enable them to communicate over great distances, showing who is where and what they are doing.

Published in the journal Animal Behaviour are the results.

The University of St. Andrews’ Dr. Catherine Hobaiter revealed that the wild apes use enormous tree roots as a sizable wooden surface for drumming with their hands and feet.

“If you hit the roots really hard, it resonates and makes this big deep, booming sound that travels through the forest,” she told the radio inside a Science programme.

“We could often recognize who was drumming when we heard them; it was a fantastic way to find the different chimpanzees we were looking for. So if we could do it, we were sure they could too.”

The researchers discovered that each male chimpanzee utilizes a certain rhythm of beats. They combine it with pant-hooting, which are long-distance vocalizations. Additionally, different species drum at various times throughout their call.

PhD candidate Vesta Eleuteri from the University of Vienna, the study’s principal investigator, discussed how some people have a more consistent beat, like rock and blues drummers, and some people have more fluctuating rhythms, like jazz.

“I was surprised that I was able to recognize who was drumming after just a few weeks in the forest,” she said. “But their drumming rhythms are so distinctive that it’s easy to pick up on them.”

One adolescent male chimp known as Tristan by researchers was characterized by Ms. Eleuteri as “the John Bonham (late Led Zeppelin drummer) of the forest”.

“He makes these very long drumming bouts with lots of beats and you can tell them from far away, so you can just tell it’s Tristan drumming.”

Additionally, it appeared that the animals only used their distinctive beat when they were moving. According to the researchers, a chimpanzee may decide whether or not to reveal his identity.

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