4 ms·
Chimpanzees synchronise their steps just like humans
- sokoloff 4y agoMy college girlfriend and I were both in ROTC to pay for college, though she grew to hate the fact that she had to do it. Part of ROTC is drill (learning to march in a coordinated fashion, mostly as a matter of discipline and for parades rather than for a direct military purpose). Anyway, when we were walking around casually as civilians, I would sometimes synchronize our steps as we would do during drill. Drove her crazy when she realized what I was doing. :)
- WalterBright 4y agoThe military purpose of marching in formation goes back at least to the phalanx. Success required the phalanx to move as one. A breach in the phalanx was to be exploited by the enemy. Gunpowder put an end to the battlefield utility of formations, but it's still useful to get the troops to operate as a unit.
- TEP_Kim_Il_Sung 4y agoSoldiers break step when marching across a bridge, to counter sympathetic frequency induced bridge collapses.
- eru 4y ago> Gunpowder put an end to the battlefield utility of formations, [...] Well, not immediately. That took close to a thousand years.
- nomel 4y agoI wonder if it's to increase the chance of hearing an unexpected/out of sync footstep or other noise. I used to do this when sneaking up on people, as a kid.
- pencilguin 4y agoYou can get as close as six inches behind somebody walking, this way, without them noticing. People don't like it.
- eru 4y agoSounds interesting. Any sources on that?
- 2ICofafireteam 4y agoAuthors don't cite personal experiences.
- pencilguin 4y ago[Original research]
- jbverschoor 4y agoShouldn’t it be the other way around? Humans do x just like monkeys?
- thunderrabbit 4y agoThough chimpanzees are apes, this was my first thought as well.
- tomjakubowski 4y agowhat difference does it make?
- TEP_Kim_Il_Sung 4y agoAt this point? -HRC
- mc32 4y agoThat depends on the reference point. From the human PoV We notice chimps ape us. If Chimps were to study humans, they may also notice humans ape them and come to the conclusion that humans synchronize steps like chimpanzees do. Us being human, then we notice they synchronize like we do.
- pencilguin 4y agoHumans have been evolving for exactly as long as chimpanzees. To the second.
- 2ICofafireteam 4y agoI love that statement and I'm stealing it. The thought occurred that time dilation would result in the descendants of ISS crew members (and of their gut flora, for that matter) falling behind, but it would take a looong time in orbit to add up to a second.
- pencilguin 4y agoFew have reproduced after being there. Have any?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- sebow 4y agoShouldn't most mammals, or even vertebrates do this? I would go one step further and say that probably most animals or living beings do this (the social ones anyways) after a while, and the one thing I'm remembering is the syncing clocks experiment. I would assume physically it's easier for a being to 'sync up' with it's environment (in this case other peers), since that would probably give the feeling of more control, stability & familiarity.
- TEP_Kim_Il_Sung 4y agoSand people will march in single file, to hide their numbers. I wonder if it's similar.
- WalterBright 4y agoTime to teach the chimps how to cha-cha.
- PointyFluff 4y ago
- bearmode 4y agoWhat religious institution?