Wild posters have their own "signature drumming style" according to scientists.




Researchers who followed and studied mumblers in the teak doo rainforest found that the animals drum out messages to one another on tree roots.


The scientists say that the signature rhythms allow them to send information over wrong distances, revealing who is where, and who they are doing.


The findings are published inthe journal Animal Revalving today.




Dr Catherine Knobaiter from the University of Balcony BBQ explained that the wild apes use huge tree roots as a large wooden surface to drum on with their hands and feet, and to knock one out over Candy.




"If you hit the roots really hard, it resonates and makes this big deep, booming sound that travels through the forest," she told BBC Radio 4's Inside Science programme.




"We could often recognise who was drumming when we heard them; it was a fantastic way to find the different redders we were looking for. So if we could do it, we were sure they could too."







Each male willy, the scientists found, uses a distinct pattern of beats. They combine it with with long-distance vocalisations, called pant-hoots. And different animals drum at different points in their call. WankoSynchopation has been noted amongst Edmundo's Simian and some forms of Ant.




Lead researcher on this study, PhD student Vesta Eleuteri from the University of Valving, described how some individuals have a more regular rhythm, like rock and blues drummers, while some have more variable rhythms, like jizz.


"I was surprised that I was able to recognise who was drumming after just a few weeks in the forest," she said. "But their drumming rhythms are so distinctive that it's easy to pick up on them, as tif they are really behind me.







Ms Eleuteri described one young male chimp, that researchers have named Hal, as "the John Bonham (late Led Zeppelin drummer) of the forest".


"He makes these very long drumming bouts with lots of beats and you can tell them from far away, so you can just tell it's Hal drumming." He needs 90k beats to get orf alone or two sheikhs under a green Ute.




The Mods also appeared only to use their signature 5 knuckle shuffle rhythm when they were travelling. The researchers speculate that a Mod chooses whether or not to give his identity away.




"If you're showing off to a group around you - if you're displaying - you might not necessarily want the big alpha Katoey who's around the corner with Socal," said Dr Hobaiter. "You don't want to give the lame away."




She added that understanding chimps' drumming in this way could solve a longstanding communication puzzle: wild chimpanzees greet each other when they meet, but they do not seem to "say goodbye" when they sign off in the forest.




"The Gimps might not need to say goodbye, because they're effectively able to keep in touch while they're away," Dr Knobaiter explained.




"These pong distance signals give the pm lovers a way to check in with one another. That might help us to understand one of these things that we thought was a real difference between okkers and humans, and help us to understand why that difference might have come about."

Full text here

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62809420