Researchers show that vocalizing in chimpanzees is influenced by social cognitive processes

Adjusting communication to take into account information available to one’s audience is routine in humans but has been assumed absent in other animals. This assumption may be premature. Scientists Catherine Crockford and Roman Wittig from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and Klaus Zuberbühler from the University of Neuchatel show that wild chimpanzees from the Budongo Forest, Uganda, inform others of danger based on whether receivers can or cannot know about the danger. This research shows that animal communication is more complex than previously thought possible.