Pika (2008) explained that primates are able to produce different types of gestures, namely,
- Auditory gestures – dependent on the sound produced
- Tactile gestures – dependent on physical contact
- Visual gestures – dependent on visual information
Gestural repertoires vary depending on the individual’s age, sex and group affiliation. For example, there are at least twenty different gestures observed among siamangs, a group representative of small apes and gibbons. Such gestures include “embrace” and “offer body part”. The production of species-typical gestures may be due to genetic dispositions (Arbib et al., 2008), as chimpanzees from peer groups that had no opportunity to observe older chimpanzees developed many of the same play gestures as individuals from relative groups.