31 Jan 2008
Great Ape: not so great Communicator
Apes act out charades to make pointTimes Online
“Orang-utans use a form of charades to communicate and display gestures to express themselves, researchers have found. The great apes waved, pointed and blew raspberries in their attempts to get keepers to understand their needs. If faced with an unresponsive or seemingly stupid keeper who failed to come up with a treat, they would throw something at him or her. Researchers at the University of St Andrews, Fife, carried out the experiment with six orang-utans, at Durrell Zoo in Jersey and Twycross Zoo, Warwickshire. The results were published in Current Biology.”
Communication Skills Consultant, Kate Faragher, adds:
"It might be a light-hearted comparison but there are a lot of people out there whose way of communicating makes those Orang-utans look positively urbane. But Working Voices can help. We'll show you how to get your mindset right, your voice right and your body language right so that everything you say will be expressed the way you want and get the results you want – without the raspberries."
Want to know more about our Essential Communication and Presentation Skills Courses? Visit our Presentation Skills pages then contact Tina @ Working Voices and Escape from the Planet of the Apes.
(Image ©iStockphoto.com/BrooksElliot)