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Goo-goo-gorillas have their own kind of baby talk
Suzi Eszterhas/FLPA
IN BRIEF Scary reptile has saw in its mouth
Goo-goo-gorillas have their own brand of baby talk “DO YOU want to play wiv mummy? Wocka-wocka-woo?” said the gorilla. Well, not quite, but older gorillas have been found to use a modified system of gestures when communicating with infants. Much like “motherese”, the baby talk human parents use when talking to their children, the gorillas’ special gestures may help the infants to develop their own communication skills. Eva Maria Luëf and Katja Liebal of the Free University of Berlin in Germany monitored 24 captive lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) for four months, focusing on the gestures they used to start and stop play. Typically,
gorillas might encourage play by slapping others while making a “play face”, for instance, or somersaulting, and end bouts by placing a hand on the other gorilla’s head. With infants, every older gorilla used more touch-based gestures and repeated their gestures more (American Journal of Primatology, DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22039). No other apes have been seen modifying their signals for infants, although rhesus macaques do change one call when directing it at infants. But Luëf suspects that all great apes can do it. The adults could be encouraging the infants to develop their gesturing, says Richard Byrne of the University of St Andrews, UK. Gorillas have to learn how best to use their repertoire of gestures. That takes practice, and possibly help from older gorillas. “I think it’s very likely that’s what’s going on,” Byrne says.
Autistic people more likely to be atheists PEOPLE with autism appear less likely to believe in God – a discovery that strengthens the theory that religious belief relies on being able to imagine what a “god” is thinking, a capacity known as mentalising. One of the hallmarks of autism is a reduced ability to infer what other people are thinking. So Ara Norenzayan of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, 16 | NewScientist | 9 June 2012
Canada, and colleagues reasoned that if thinking about a personal God engages mentalising abilities, then mentalising deficits would make people less likely to believe in God. Investigating, the team found that adolescents with autism were almost 90 per cent less likely than non-autistic peers to express a strong belief in God. Norenzayan’s team performed three other studies, which
involved questioning hundreds of people about religious belief and mentalisation. In each study, a professed belief in God correlated with higher mentalising scores (PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal. pone.0036880). However, the findings do not prove that belief in God relies exclusively on mentalisation, says Norenzayan. He says there are many reasons why people believe in God, whether or not they are good at mentalising.
EVEN when the tuatara chomps down on large prey, it never bites off more than it can chew. New Zealand’s distinctive reptile has evolved a unique sawing bite that helps it tackle food much larger than its mouth. Tuataras have two rows of teeth on their upper jaw, while their lower jaw has a single row, which fits between them. The lower jaw slides forward slightly once it reaches the upper jaw, allowing it to slice through food. Marc Jones of University College London and his colleagues built a computer model of the skull and found that as well as sliding forwards, the lower jaw rotates inwards. “It’s very subtle,” says Jones, but it means they can chew even better (The Anatomical Record, DOI: 10.1002/ar.22487). This allows tuataras to tackle a wide range of food, which may have contributed to their survival through shifts in climate.
The high life makes chickadees smarter IF YOU want to enhance your memory, live up a mountain. Vladimir Pravosudov of the University of Nevada in Reno collected 48 juvenile mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) from three different elevations in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Birds that lived just 600 metres higher than others had larger hippocampi – a part of the brain linked to memory. They were also better at remembering where food was hidden in lab tests (Animal Behaviour, DOI: 10.1016/ j.anbehav.2012.04.018). The chickadees store pine seeds in thousands of caches for the winter. Higher up, where it stays cold for longer, they must store more seeds and remember where they put them.
IN BRIEF Scary reptile has saw in its mouth
Goo-goo-gorillas have their own brand of baby talk “DO YOU want to play wiv mummy? Wocka-wocka-woo?” said the gorilla. Well, not quite, but older gorillas have been found to use a modified system of gestures when communicating with infants. Much like “motherese”, the baby talk human parents use when talking to their children, the gorillas’ special gestures may help the infants to develop their own communication skills. Eva Maria Luëf and Katja Liebal of the Free University of Berlin in Germany monitored 24 captive lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) for four months, focusing on the gestures they used to start and stop play. Typically,
gorillas might encourage play by slapping others while making a “play face”, for instance, or somersaulting, and end bouts by placing a hand on the other gorilla’s head. With infants, every older gorilla used more touch-based gestures and repeated their gestures more (American Journal of Primatology, DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22039). No other apes have been seen modifying their signals for infants, although rhesus macaques do change one call when directing it at infants. But Luëf suspects that all great apes can do it. The adults could be encouraging the infants to develop their gesturing, says Richard Byrne of the University of St Andrews, UK. Gorillas have to learn how best to use their repertoire of gestures. That takes practice, and possibly help from older gorillas. “I think it’s very likely that’s what’s going on,” Byrne says.
Autistic people more likely to be atheists PEOPLE with autism appear less likely to believe in God – a discovery that strengthens the theory that religious belief relies on being able to imagine what a “god” is thinking, a capacity known as mentalising. One of the hallmarks of autism is a reduced ability to infer what other people are thinking. So Ara Norenzayan of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, 16 | NewScientist | 9 June 2012
Canada, and colleagues reasoned that if thinking about a personal God engages mentalising abilities, then mentalising deficits would make people less likely to believe in God. Investigating, the team found that adolescents with autism were almost 90 per cent less likely than non-autistic peers to express a strong belief in God. Norenzayan’s team performed three other studies, which
involved questioning hundreds of people about religious belief and mentalisation. In each study, a professed belief in God correlated with higher mentalising scores (PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal. pone.0036880). However, the findings do not prove that belief in God relies exclusively on mentalisation, says Norenzayan. He says there are many reasons why people believe in God, whether or not they are good at mentalising.
EVEN when the tuatara chomps down on large prey, it never bites off more than it can chew. New Zealand’s distinctive reptile has evolved a unique sawing bite that helps it tackle food much larger than its mouth. Tuataras have two rows of teeth on their upper jaw, while their lower jaw has a single row, which fits between them. The lower jaw slides forward slightly once it reaches the upper jaw, allowing it to slice through food. Marc Jones of University College London and his colleagues built a computer model of the skull and found that as well as sliding forwards, the lower jaw rotates inwards. “It’s very subtle,” says Jones, but it means they can chew even better (The Anatomical Record, DOI: 10.1002/ar.22487). This allows tuataras to tackle a wide range of food, which may have contributed to their survival through shifts in climate.
The high life makes chickadees smarter IF YOU want to enhance your memory, live up a mountain. Vladimir Pravosudov of the University of Nevada in Reno collected 48 juvenile mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) from three different elevations in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Birds that lived just 600 metres higher than others had larger hippocampi – a part of the brain linked to memory. They were also better at remembering where food was hidden in lab tests (Animal Behaviour, DOI: 10.1016/ j.anbehav.2012.04.018). The chickadees store pine seeds in thousands of caches for the winter. Higher up, where it stays cold for longer, they must store more seeds and remember where they put them.