Elephants used distinct gesture types to communicate that they want apples. Credit: Royal Society Open Science (2025) . DOI: 10.1098/rsos.242203 Humans have long mastered the art of expressing their ...

Using gestures is part of communication and language and can be found across the animal world, from fish to apes and birds. However, having more complex gestures is something that has really only been ...

To communicate without words, humans use a host of gestures—whether a wave to wish someone goodbye, a thumbs-up to indicate approval or “flipping the bird” to suggest something far less polite. While ...

A small-bird species, the Japanese tit (Parus minor), uses wing movements as a gesture to convey the message “after you,” according to new research at the University of Tokyo. When a mating pair ...

In face-to-face conversations, speakers use hand movements to signal meaning. But do listeners actually use these gestures to predict what someone might say next? In a study using virtual avatars, ...

Eleanor has an undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Reading and a master’s in wildlife documentary production from the University of Salford. Eleanor has an undergraduate degree in ...