YOU CAN SPEAK CHIMPANZEE, IF YOU TRY

New research published Wednesday claims that the average human can understand the basic language of chimpanzees. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam found that humans were able to differentiate chimp cries depending on their context – be that being tickled, threatened by a predator, or eating high-value food. 3,500 participants were asked to listen to recordings of 150 chimp sounds, then decide based on what they heard if the animal was in a positive or negative situation, and whether it was excited or relaxed. Next, 300 participants were then asked to match sounds to a list of 10 behaviors, including chimps mating, being separated from their mothers, or being scared by something. The humans proved surprising adept at understanding the correct context in which the cries were recorded.
* This will be very useful for when the apes take over, like they did in those movies.
* If you’ve raised a baby, you can speak chimp.
* How do you say “Please stop throwing your feces at me”?
* Were those really sounds of chimps mating, or just the research scientists getting their freak on?