ZOOGESTURES: Technological evolution between humans and animals

Are early technical achievements such as the development of new tools or building constructions based solely on human characteristics such as cognition and problem-solving skills? Or did animals or the non-human environment possibly also make a significant contribution as a source of inspiration? This is what an international team of scientists - Dr. Johannes Schick (University of Siegen), Dr. Shumon Hussain (University of Cologne) and Prof. Catherine Hobaiter (St Andrews University) - is investigating in the new research project "The Zoomorphology of Gestures: Interspecies Learning and Technical Invention in Early Human Evolution (ZOOGESTURES)".

The international collaborative research project between the three universities is being funded as part of the Volkwagen Foundation's highly competitive "Pioneering Projects - Explorations of the Unknown" funding line: The project will receive 1.3 million euros in total funding over four years from 2026 to 2029, of which just under 500,000 euros will go to the University of Siegen.

In Siegen, the project is based at the Media Studies Seminar in the Science, Technology and Media Studies department and is supervised by Dr. Johannes Schick.

Animals and humans use technology

As part of ZOOGESTURES, the research team combines philosophical, anthropological, archaeological and primatological expertise - with the University of Siegen contributing the philosophical and technological-anthropological perspective. The researchers are investigating the question of how technical gestures have evolved from interactions between humans and animals and how animal gestures have contributed to the evolution of technology. The project opens up the new research area of so-called "Interspecies Gestural Studies". The central thesis is that imitation and learning from other creatures had a decisive influence on the cultural development of our Ice Age ancestors.

"We are not asking: 'What is the human being? 'How do technical gestures emerge from an interplay of different human and non-human actors?' We want to break down the idea that technical gestures are something specifically human. To do this, we use process-oriented and relational approaches that attempt to understand humans in relation to other systems," explains Dr. Johannes Schick, project manager at the University of Siegen.

The scientists want to investigate whether humans and animals jointly created early technological niches - this would mean that human technological development was strongly influenced by non-human actors. This pioneering interdisciplinary project is the first to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework to explore these relationships in more detail and develop the necessary terminology by integrating concepts from anthropology, philosophy of technology, animal studies, ecology and behavioral science. The researchers will also draw on indigenous knowledge from North America, Australia and Africa to assess the relevance of animal behavior.

Field research planned in Africa

Over the next four years, the teams are planning field research expeditions in West and East Africa (Guinea and Uganda) on the behavior of various chimpanzee and mountain gorilla groups and their interactions with local human communities with whom they live. The aim is to find out whether the surviving oral history and local knowledge systems provide evidence of the contribution of these animals to the human repertoire of gestures and techniques.

The project also examines in archaeological depth over time which non-human techniques - for example the hunting behavior of wolves, the nest building of birds or bison trails that were developed for agriculture - were possible starting points for human innovations. "The research also gives us a better understanding of what we are as humans, what defines us as technical beings, but also what role our relationship with animals plays. With this project, we could contribute to the discovery of a completely new field of research - that happens very rarely," says Schick. The funding from the Volkswagen Foundation offers the international team the unique opportunity to pursue unconventional paths in research.

Background to the funding

The Volkswagen Foundation's "Pioneering Projects - Explorations of the Unknown" initiative funds radically explorative research projects that break new scientific ground and are highly relevant in the field of basic scientific research. The initiatives funded have considerable potential for fundamental scientific breakthroughs, but they are also associated with a certain degree of risk.