新的研究揭示了猩猩的“语言”

新的研究揭示了猩猩的“语言”

It might sound like a squeak, a kiss, and raspberry to us, but this is how some of our ginger-haired great ape cousins tell one another to "go away" or “gimme that.”

对我们来说，这可能听起来像是尖叫、亲吻和树莓的声音，但这是我们的一些姜色头发的类人猿亲戚告诉彼此“走开”或“给我那个”的方式。

A new study led by the University of Exeter in the UK and the Borneo Nature Foundation set about to decipher the vocal calls and gestures of wild orangutans. Reported in the International Journal of Primatology, the results are essentially an orangutan-to-human dictionary.

由英国埃克塞特大学和婆罗洲自然基金会领导的一项新研究开始破译野生猩猩的叫声和手势。该研究结果发表在《国际灵长类学杂志》上，其本质是一部猩猩与人类之间的字典。

The team headed to the forests of Borneo and documented the communication of wild orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii), especially between mothers and their children. Over a period of two years, a total of 681 hours of video footage captured almost 1,300 different types of communication signals.

研究小组前往婆罗洲的森林，记录了野生猩猩(Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii)之间的交流，尤其是母亲和孩子之间的交流。在两年的时间里，总共681小时的视频记录了近1300种不同的通信信号。

They identified 11 vocal signals and 21 physical gestures that had eight specific motives, including "acquire object" (signaller wants something), "climb on me", "climb on you", "climb over", "move away", "play change: decrease intensity", "resume play", and "stop that."

他们识别了11种声音信号和21种身体动作，它们有8种特定的动机，包括“获得目标”(信号者想要什么)、“爬到我身上”、“爬到你身上”、“爬过去”、“走开”、“游戏改变:降低强度”、“继续游戏”和“停止游戏”。

These goals were communicated through a number of different sounds, including grumbles, cries, croaks, and raspberries. Some of the calls were also surprisingly complex, such as making a “kiss squeak” but changing the noise by cupping a hand around the mouth or putting a leaf in front of their lips.

这些目标通过一些不同的声音来传达，包括抱怨、哭泣、嘶嘶声和覆盆子声。有些叫声也出乎意料地复杂，比如发出“接吻吱吱声”，但会通过用手捂住嘴或在嘴唇前放一片树叶来改变声音。