Scientists are fighting over whether chimps have accents

Scientists on both sides of the pond have found something they disagree with mightily: whether chimpanzees have accents or not.

It all started with a study out of the UK that argued that chimps adjust their grunts to communicate with new neighbors, which they claim to have observed after chimps were moved from a Dutch safari park to the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland and began making different noises for the same thing, according to a BBC report.

However, these findings have been contradicted by a new study in the journal Current Biology led by Dr. James Higham of New York University. He says that the original study has problems both when it comes to their methodology and a misinterpretation of the data.

But Dr. Simon Townsend of Warwick University, who led a team that included researchers at York and St. Andrews in penning the original study, shot back that he stands by the findings. He did note, however, that he welcomes critiques and that these disagreements are good for science, according to the report.

The original study claimed that by examining the chimps’ behavior and vocalizations, they were able to determine that once they had moved from the Netherlands to the new Edinburgh location, they changed their call for apples from an excited, high-pitched tone to a less excited, lower-pitched tone that more matched their neighbors.

But the skeptics examined the data themselves and said not so fast: the calls are actually quite similar to begin with an not nearly as significant as had been claimed. It all apparently comes down to how you interpret the data, meaning that this debate could go on for a while.