Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Gorilla Mums Use 'Baby Talk'

Lady with Baby Gorilla
The BBC reports today that gorilla mothers use a special type of 'baby talk' when communicating with their infants.  Analysing hours of video footage, a team of scientists found that parents augmented their wide repertoire of communication gestures with repetition and increased tactility when talking to young gorillas.  

A video on the BBC website shows a mother repeatedly laying her hand on her child's head, in a bid to tell her infant to "stop it", researchers say.  It is thought that these observations may give us insight into how human language developed.
Source: BBC News

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