A captive chimpanzee in Japan spontaneously ripped floorboards from a walkway and used them as instruments to perform structured, rhythmic drumming displays while vocalizingResearchers recorded 89 performances and found the drumming wasn’t random and followed a structured, rhythmic pattern similar to chimpanzee vocal calls.The chimp displayed play faces and what appeared to be laughter while drumming, suggesting the behavior was emotionally rewarding, not just a social display.The findings support the hypothesis that instrumental music may have evolved from vocal emotional expression, though the study is limited to a single individual in a captive setting.
Drumming and singing at the same time is impressive, whether you’re Karen Carpenter, Ringo Starr or a chimpanzee. Japanese researchers report that Ayumu, a 26-year-old male chimpanzee and alpha of his group at Kyoto University’s Institute for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior (EHUB), has been spontaneously tearing floorboards from a walkway, fashioning them into instruments and performing extended drumming displays while vocalizing.
“I was surprised,” primatologist Yuko Hattori told Mongabay. “Chimpanzee drumming-like behavior has been reported before, for example when they throw stones or hit old tree trunks. However, behavior like this — using a stick in a way that closely resembled playing a drum — has not been reported before.”
