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Spontaneous Pointing Behaviour in the Wild Pygmy Chimpanzee (Pan paniscus)

The adoption of pointing behaviour has been emphasised by researchers of human cognitive development as an act of communication prior to the appearance of language [1]. In human children, this behaviour first appears after about 12 months, although the capacity to understand directional signs from others appears a little later [2]. This apparently spontaneous behaviour has also been observed in chimpanzees in captivity (Pan troglodytes) in a social context, to attract the attention of the researcher or another chimpanzee [3, 4]. Chimpanzees can also be trained to do this, and Premack [5] used this as part of his experimental procedure, whereby one of several alternatives was indicated in order to solve a problem. Pointing behaviour is displayed most frequently by those chimpanzees who have undergone a prolonged training in a human environment and especially by pygmy chimpanzees in captivity [6]. During our research project [7–9] on etho-ecology of the pygmy chimpanzee in the Ikela region (Zaire), we had the opportunity to observe spontaneous pointing behaviour by this species: