Humans don't own sophistication, that is, if we let the putty-nosed monkeys of Nigeria have a say about it. Dr Klaus Zuberbuhler and Kate Arnold from Scotland's University of St. Andrews learned that these monkeys knowingly combine sounds to produce meaning.

In yet another study which will leave Charles Darwin grinning, Zuberbuhler and Arnold methodically observed the putty-nosed monkeys in their natural habitat and discovered three types of information which the monkeys understood via compound signals:

• a witnessing of an event
• a caller's identity
  
• an intention to travel

These findings seriously challenge the theory that humans found the need to combine signals, a precursor to human language, because of their vast signal repertoire. The theory holds that humans found it more convenient to combine signals than to add new ones.

However, the monkeys were able to combine signals together even if their lack of tongue control permits a limited number of signals only. Fully aware that this is a remarkable and debatable implication of monkey-to-man evolution, researchers Zuberbuhler and Arnold have made themselves available for interviews and further queries. Contact details are available through the via link.