Overview

• A study published in *Current Biology* analyzed 371 drumming bouts from 11 chimpanzee communities across eastern and western Africa.
• Chimpanzees drum with nonrandom, rhythmic patterns, with western chimps favoring evenly spaced beats and faster tempos, while eastern chimps alternate between shorter and longer intervals.
• Drumming serves as a form of long-distance communication, allowing chimps to signal location and activity to group members across dense rainforest habitats.
• Western chimpanzees integrate drumming earlier into their pant-hoot vocalizations, suggesting subspecies-specific social dynamics.
• The findings suggest the evolutionary roots of human musical rhythm may date back to a common ancestor shared with chimpanzees over six million years ago.