Deep in the tropical forests of Gombe National Park in Tanzania, chimpanzees wander in relative abundance, and Michael Johnson isn’t far behind. He follows chimpanzees through the treetops to capture the day-to-day sounds they use to communicate: howling, screeching and the infamous pant-hoot. He does all this in an effort to learn whether chimps have a language of their own and, ultimately, if there’s a connection to how human language first evolved.
Johnson is a professor of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota and recently wrote about his work in The Conversation.
Photo: Flickr, Zweer de Bruin (CC-BY-NC-ND)
Music: Movin on Up by Podington Bear (CC-BY-NC)