- NEWS FEATURE
The complexity of vocal communication in some primates, whales and birds might approach that of human language.
By
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Rachel Fieldhouse
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Rachel Fieldhouse is a reporter for Nature in Sydney, Australia.
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Illustration: David Parkins
Deep in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mélissa Berthet found bonobos doing something thought to be uniquely human.
Nature 645, 574-576 (2025)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02917-9
References
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Leroux, M. et al. Nature Commun. 14, 2225 (2023).
Girard-Buttoz, C. et al. Sci. Adv. 11, eadq2879 (2025).
Sharma, P. et al. Nature Commun. 15, 3617 (2024).
Beguš, G., Sprouse, R. L., Leban, A., Silva, M. & Gero, S. Preprint at OSF https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/285cs (2023).
Liao, D. A., Brecht, K. F., Johnston, M. & Nieder, A. Sci. Adv. 8, eabq3356 (2022).
Rutz, C. et al. Science 381, 152–155 (2023).
Pardo, M. A. et al. Nature Ecol. Evol. 8, 1353–1364 (2024).
Oren, G. et al. Science 385, 996–1003 (2024).
Kobayashi, K. et al. Preprint at arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2502.00344 (2025).
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