But, scientists said on Thursday, they also possess an unexpected social skill that puts them in elite company alongside humans and some of our close evolutionary cousins: the ability to mimic another bear’s facial expressions in a subtle type of communication. The bears exactly mimicked facial expressions they saw other bears produce during social play, copying with high precision not only the type of expression but also specific muscular movements such as raising their noses and wrinkling the bridge of their muzzles. Other than people, facial mimicry has been observed in gorillas, orangutans, two monkey species and domesticated dogs. Until now, only gorillas had been observed showing a degree of precision comparable to the complex facial mimicry of people. But the sun bears proved equally as sophisticated as the gorillas and comparable to people, the study found.

Source: Huffington Post March 23, 2019 15:56 UTC