Apparently, it’s not only humans and apes that engage in gestural communication. According to new research at the University of Tokyo, Japanese tits (Parus minor) use their wings as a gesture to politely convey the message “after you,” to their partners. “In our latest discovery, we revealed that the Japanese tit uses gestures to communicate with their mate,” said Associate Professor Toshitaka Suzuki in a statement. “I hope this leads to much more research on gestures among other animals,” he added. Suzuki and his co-author Norimasa Sugita observed 16 parent birds returning to their nest boxes on 321 occasions.
Researching the Behavior of Japanese Birds
In spring, Japanese tits build nests with small entrance holes after they’ve formed a mating pair. These holes aren’t big enough for the two birds to go through at the same time, so they must enter one after the other. During their research, which was conducted in Nagano’s Kitasaku district between May and June of last year, Suzuki and Sugita found that the birds would often rest on a perch outside the nest before making a flapping gesture for their mate to enter. This was performed more often by the female birds than by the male ones.
“There is a hypothesis that walking on two legs allowed humans to maintain an upright posture, freeing up their hands for greater mobility, which in turn contributed to the evolution of gestures,” said Suzuki. “Similarly, when birds perch on branches, their wings become free, which we think may facilitate the development of gestural communication. We will continue to decipher what birds are talking about through gestures, vocalizations and their combinations. This endeavor not only enables us to uncover the rich world of animal languages, but also serves as a crucial key to unraveling the origins and evolution of our own language.”
