Chimpanzees use floorboards to play drums, showing how music is born in humans

Scientists at Kyoto University in Japan have recorded a never-before-seen ‘musical performance’ by a chimpanzee. The discovery sheds further light on the origins of music in the first humans.

Ayumu, a 26-year-old male chimpanzee, took a floorboard from the sidewalk and used it to play a drum and make sounds at the same time.

Although chimpanzees have been observed drumming with sticks and other objects, this is the first time a primate has been observed displaying rhythmic vocal expressions next to a drum, according to the study published in the same journal. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Scientists recorded nearly 90 spontaneous performances by Ayumu between February 2023 and March 2025.

Chimpanzees systematically removed floorboards from sidewalks and used them as props to play music.

“It was very interesting to see how chimpanzees use tools to make different sounds while also expressing vocal expressions,” Yuko Hattori, lead author of the study, said in a statement.

This observation lends credence to the theory that music, particularly instrumental playing, first evolved as a result of the externalization of emotional expression through vocalizations combined with the use of tools.

Ancient percussion instruments were made from perishable materials such as wood and animal skin, making them difficult to trace directly with archaeological evidence.

But researchers say this observation of musical behavior in our primate cousins ​​provides a key to understanding the evolution of musicality.

The latest research investigated the possibility that chimpanzees’ vocal expressions transferred to instrumental sounds.

Scientists began by evaluating Ayumu’s behavior and breaking it down into components such as hitting, dragging, and throwing.

We then assessed the connections between these elements and determined which transitions occurred by chance and which transitions occurred on purpose.

The researchers analyzed the intervals between strikes and compared the stability of the rhythm of tool use with that of hand and foot drumming.

They also observed the chimpanzees’ facial expressions, which indicate positive emotions, such as playful faces during play.

This study revealed that the order of the notes emitted by the instrument is not random, but that the intervals between hits maintain a constant tempo, like a metronome.

The results confirmed that the emotional expressions conveyed by chimpanzees vocally were likely to have been externalized and developed into the sounds of tools.

This study suggests that non-human primates may have the ability to use musical instruments to channel their emotions.

“Our study highlights the evolutionary continuity between primate acoustic displays and human musical abilities,” the scientists said in the study.