黑猩猩的“康加线”揭示了人类是如何学会跳舞的

黑猩猩的“康加线”揭示了人类是如何学会跳舞的:研究

Before we were dancing machines, we were primates just finding our groove.

在我们成为跳舞机器之前，我们是灵长类动物，只是在寻找我们的最佳状态。

Footage of chimpanzees walking in sync — performing what appears to be a “conga” — is informing psychological researchers about the origins of dance among humans, according to the new study published Thursday in Scientific Reports.

周四发表在《科学报告》上的一项新研究称，黑猩猩同步行走的镜头——像是在表演“康加舞”——让心理学研究人员了解了人类舞蹈的起源。

“Dance is an icon of human expression,” the research reads. “Despite astounding diversity around the world’s cultures and dazzling abundance of reminiscent animal systems, the evolution of dance in the human clade remains obscure.”

“舞蹈是人类表达的象征，”研究报告写道。“尽管世界各地的文化有着惊人的多样性，令人眼花缭乱的丰富动物系统，但人类舞蹈的进化仍然是一个谜。”

One minute-long video shows two chimps at the Saint Louis Zoo walking in a line and taking perfectly timed steps in tandem, while each holds what appears to be a burlap bag between her legs. They continue their march around the enclosure and, at one point, the chimp in the back even puts her arm on the waist of her friend in the lead — just like in a proper conga line.

一分钟长的视频显示，在圣路易斯动物园里，两只黑猩猩排成一列，步调一致，每只脚之间都夹着一个麻袋。他们继续绕着围栏行进，在某一时刻，后面的黑猩猩甚至把她的胳膊放在她朋友的腰上——就像在康加舞线上一样。

European researchers found 23 videos of the two chimps, named Holly and Bahkahri, dancing this way between October 2011 and April 2015. They say the level of coordination between the two dancing queens is on par with musicians performing a symphony.

欧洲研究人员发现，2011年10月至2015年4月期间，两只名为Holly和Bahkahri的黑猩猩以这种方式跳舞的视频有23个。他们说，两位舞蹈女王的协调水平与音乐家演奏交响乐的水平相当。

Scientists add that this might be the “first case of spontaneous whole-body entrainment between two ape peers,” without outside stimulus, such as to mimic human behavior or training.

科学家们补充说，这可能是“两个类人猿同伴在没有外界刺激(比如模仿人类行为或训练)的情况下，发生的首例自发的全身夹带”。

“Dance requires individuals to interactively synchronize their whole-body tempo to their partner’s, with near-perfect precision,” study authors write. “This explains why no dance forms were present amongst nonhuman primates.”

研究报告的作者写道:“跳舞要求人们以近乎完美的精准度，互动地让自己的全身节奏与伴侣同步。”“这就解释了为什么灵长类动物中没有舞蹈形式。”

The fact that the chimps were doing their jungle boogie while in captivity also hints at the conditions that brought about the expressive and disciplined human art form.

事实上，黑猩猩在被囚禁的时候也会在丛林里跳布吉舞，这也暗示了这种富有表现力和纪律性的人类艺术形式是在什么条件下产生的。