Zoo gorillas invent new cough/sneeze call to get attention and food

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-08-11 04:00

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US scientists say gorillas at Zoo Atlanta have developed a new call to get attention and food from their keepers, and it's a combo of a cough and a sneeze. The sound, which has never been described before, is different from calls gorillas make naturally in the wild, the scientists say. They tested eight gorillas at the zoo to see how they would react to a human, food, or a human holding food. The gorillas vocalised most when faced with the human with food, and the cough/sneeze was the most common vocalisation used. The scientists surveyed other US zoos, and found that gorillas other than those at Zoo Atlanta use the same distinctive cough/sneeze call. They say the findings suggest gorillas can invent and learn new vocalisations, and suggest further work could look into whether the same call has arisen in different groups independently, or whether the gorillas learned it from each other.