How chimps use gestures to communicate
4 July 2014 Last updated at 06:56 BST
Researchers from the University of St Andrews say they have translated the meanings of gestures that wild chimpanzees use to communicate.
The findings, which are published in the journal Current Biology, suggest the apes use 66 different gestures to represent 19 specific messages.
The team, led by Dr Catherine Hobaiter, studied hours of footage of wild chimps in Uganda.
Victoria Gill reports.