Chimpanzees rhythmically drum to communicate in forests, which might indicate that musicality predates our species. They use regular spacing between drum hits and do so with a sense of rhythm. The findings show distinct drumming rhythms in two distinct subspecies of chimpanzees —eastern and western chimpanzees. According to scientists, the basis of musicality might have originated from a common ancestor shared with chimpanzees.
“Based on our previous work, we expected that western chimpanzees would use more hits and drum more quickly than eastern chimpanzees,” says lead author Vesta Eleuteri of the University of Vienna, Austria. “But we didn’t expect to see such clear differences in rhythm or to find that their drumming rhythms shared such clear similarities with human music.”
Previous research showed that chimpanzees made low-frequency sounds by hitting and drumming on buttress roots, which are wide, large roots that rise above the ground. The research also suggests that drumming helps communicate information across long and short distances.
According to Eleuteri, previous studies have shown unique drumming patterns and styles in chimpanzees. These drumming habits share information about where the chimpanzees are and what they are doing. Interestingly, chimpanzees of different groups have different drumming patterns and styles.
To find out whether the drum beats are rhythmic or not, Eleuteri and her team, including senior authors Catherine Hobaiter of the University of St. Andrews in the UK and Andrea Ravignani of Sapienza University in Rome, teamed up with other chimpanzee researchers to study 371 drumming bouts in 11 chimpanzee communities. On analyzing the drumming style, the researchers found that the drumming style is non-random and has rhythmic sense, based on even spacing of the drum hits. Eastern chimpanzees alternated between long-interval and short-interval drumming patterns. On the other hand, Western chimpanzees used evenly spaced hits and drums more frequently at a faster tempo.
Musical sense is a special gift that humans have, but the sense of music might not be unique to humans. It is yet to be known when we started making music. Chimpanzees prove that the sense of music is not unique to humans, since they are successful in rhythmic drumming just like humans. This finding is key to understanding how we evolved a sense of music, and whether it predates our existence.
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