Who knew chimpanzees love to dance? They also like to clap along to music, and nod their head, tap their and move in with the rhythm. A new study shows that chimpanzees could appreciate . The researchers are from Kyoto University in Japan. They say their could help us understand how humans developed an interest in music. Researchers Dr Yuko Hattori and professor Masaki Tomonaga conducted on seven chimps. They played the apes six two-minute on a piano for six days. The researchers said the chimps had a definite sense of rhythm and it changed their mood. The male chimpanzees seemed to respond to the more than the .
The researchers wrote that chimpanzees could have passed on a for music and dance to early humans millions of years . This could have happened via a ancestor around six million years ago. The researchers said the study suggested that our of dancing was deep inside the earliest humans. Dr Hattori said: "Chimpanzees dance to some in the same way as humans." She added: "In humans, listening to music causes movement, suggesting a close between the auditory and motor areas in the brain." She believes the research could shed on the evolution of dancing in humans and why we love and rhythm so .