Chimps like to copy human visitors to the zoo – Ig Nobel Prize

How good is your best chimpanzee impression? Go to the zoo and you probably wouldn’t be surprised to see people copying chimps in order to grab their attention. But our latest research, which recently won the Ig Nobel Prize for Anthropology, suggests you are just as likely to see chimpanzees imitating the human visitors.

Established in 1991, the Ig Nobel prizes are granted each autumn to ten unusual scientific discoveries that “first make you laugh, and then make you think.” Our findings unravel a form of imitation as communication that has not been previously reported in non-human apes. We typically think that humans evolved imitation as a way of learning. But our study suggests it can serve several functions, including for other animals.