WOMEN may be fed up with being stereotyped as the chattier sex, but the cliche turns out to be true - in female-centric monkey groups at least. The gossipy nature of female macaques also adds weight to the theory that human language evolved to forge social bonds.
Many researchers think that language replaced grooming as a less time-consuming way of preserving close bonds in ever-growing societies.
Nathalie Greeno and Stuart Semple from Roehampton University in London hypothesised that if this was true then in species of animals with large social networks, such as macaques, vocal exchanges should be just as important as grooming.
The duo listened to a group of 16 female and eight male macaques living on Cayo Santiago island off Puerto Rico for three months. They counted the grunts, coos and girneys - friendly chit-chat between two individuals - while ignoring calls specific to the presence of food ...
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