A female bonobo at Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the CongoLukas Bierhoff, Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project Bonobos combine their calls in a complex way that forms distinct phrases, a sign that this type of syntax is more evolutionarily ancient than previously thought. Human language, often described as the hallmark of our species, is made up of many different building blocks. One core block is syntax, where meaningful units are combined into longer sequences, like wor...