Jingszo !

A rare and deliberate signal between a mother chimpanzee and her daughter raises new questions about ape communication, culture and the meaning of sharing a language

What may have started as Lindsay’s simple, spontaneous attempt to get her mother’s attention—by blocking Beryl’s already limited vision—became a ritualized and regularly used signal, a form of shared meaning akin to a secret handshake or inside joke. Among the Ngogo chimpanzees, researchers are coming to realize that such behaviors aren’t random quirks but part of a growing picture of how apes develop and transmit culture.