目前，最新研究发现野生黑猩猩用于沟通交流的手势动作是此前科学家所判断的两倍，至少有66种不同手势。
苏格兰圣安德鲁斯大学研究人员称，黑猩猩彼此进行交流时至少使用66种不同的手势
苏格兰圣安德鲁斯大学研究人员称，黑猩猩彼此进行交流时至少使用66种不同的手势，而此前科学家认为它们仅有30种不同的手势，当时研究人员仅是对动物园内饲养的动物进行观察统计。
圣安德鲁斯大学凯瑟琳-霍巴特(Catherine Hobaiter)博士和她的研究小组花费两年时间对乌干达布顿哥野生动物保护站120小时的黑猩猩视频进行分析获得此项研究结果，他们近距离研究黑猩猩的重复性手势动作，从而推断此前的研究并未完全地了解黑猩猩的手势语言。
霍巴特博士在接受英国广播公司记者采访时说：“我们认为此前研究人员仅观测到部分黑猩猩的手势动作，这是因为所观察的黑猩猩处于动物园的囚禁状态，人们并未观看到它们全部的行为特征。人们很少会观测到野生黑猩猩寻找同伴，向雌性求爱，或者与邻近黑猩猩群体发生冲突。”
这支研究小组在黑猩猩聚集区观察了很长时间，因此它们了解到了黑猩猩个体之间的日常生活状况。他们发现黑猩猩彼此之间会点头示意打招呼。
在一段视频中，一只雌性黑猩猩作手势示意让一只幼小的雌黑猩猩爬到它的背部；此外，另一只幼小黑猩猩握着年轻黑猩猩的手，示意让它一起玩游戏。
这项研究表明黑猩猩群体中普遍存在着用手势作为沟通交流手段，不仅于此，大猩猩和猩猩之间也使用这些手势。目前，这项研究发表在近期出版的《动物认知》杂志上。
之前科学家曾证实黑猩猩以拥抱方式安慰弱小的黑猩猩，并在其面颊轻吻，以缓解其压力。同时，他们还发现黑猩猩彼此之间发生冲突之后很少进行安慰，搂抱之后也很少施加压力。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Animal Cognition DOI: 10.1007/s10071-011-0409-2
The gestural repertoire of the wild chimpanzee
Catherine Hobaiter and Richard W. Byrne
Abstract
Great ape gestural communication is known to be intentional, elaborate and flexible; yet there is controversy over the best interpretation of the system and how gestures are acquired, perhaps because most studies have been made in restricted, captive settings. Here, we report the first systematic analysis of gesture in a population of wild chimpanzees. Over 266 days of observation, we recorded 4,397 cases of intentional gesture use in the Sonso community, Budongo, Uganda. We describe 66 distinct gesture types: this estimate appears close to asymptote, and the Sonso repertoire includes most gestures described informally at other sites. Differences in repertoire were noted between individuals and age classes, but in both cases, the measured repertoire size was predicted by the time subjects were observed gesturing. No idiosyncratic usages were found, i.e. no gesture type was used only by one individual. No support was found for the idea that gestures are acquired by ‘ontogenetic ritualization’ from originally effective actions; moreover, in detailed analyses of two gestures, action elements composing the gestures did not closely match those of the presumed original actions. Rather, chimpanzee gestures are species-typical; indeed, many are ‘family-typical’, because gesture types recorded in gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzee overlap extensively, with 24 gestures recorded in all three genera. Nevertheless, chimpanzee gestures are used flexibly across a range of contexts and show clear adjustment to audience (e.g. silent gestures for attentive targets, contact gestures for inattentive ones). Such highly intentional use of a species-typical repertoire raises intriguing questions for the evolution of advanced communication.
