Deictic gesturing in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)? Some possible cases.

Referential pointing is important in the development of language comprehension in the child and is often considered a uniquely human capacity. Nonhuman great apes do point in captivity, usually for a human audience, but this has been interpreted as an interaction pattern learned from human caretakers, not indicative of natural deictic ability. In contrast, spontaneous pointing for other apes is almost unknown among wild ape populations, supporting doubts as to whether apes naturally have any capacity to point referentially. Here the authors describe and illustrate 4 cases of gestures by juvenile chimpanzees in the Sonso chimpanzee community in Budongo, Uganda, that, at some level, may appear to be deictic and referential. The authors discuss the possible reasons why chimpanzees, if they possess a capacity for referential pointing, do not use it more frequently. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.