Imitation of facial gestures by an infant chimpanzee

A nursery-reared infant chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) was tested for the ability to imitate human facial gestures, following the procedure of MELTZOFF and MOORE (1977). The subject was observed between 5 to 15 weeks of ages. The results showed that the subject could imitate tongue protrusion in the age of 5 - 10 weeks and mouth opening between the ages of 5 - 11 weeks. However, from 12 to 15 weeks, the infant did not imitate the facial gestures. The present study clearly demonstrated that the infant chimpanzee could imitate human facial gestures in a particular period.