A new study co-authored by IEA’s Prof. Kathelijne Koops (Ape Behaviour & Ecology Group) and Dr. Adrian Soldati (Comparative Communication & Cognition Group) revealed that wild chimpanzees use drumming in rhythmically structured ways, showing features similar to human music (e.g., isochrony and non-random timing). In addition, the researchers found stable subspecies-level regional differences between West and East African chimpanzees in both the drumming structure and its integration within pant-hoots (chimpanzees’ characteristic long-distance call), despite substantial ecological variation.
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