Both chimpanzees and humans spontaneously imitate each other's actions.

Both chimpanzees and humans spontaneously imitate each other's actions.Decades of research has shown that apes, in spite of their proverbial aping abilities, are rather poor imitators, especially when compared to human children. Current theories hold that apes are worse imitators because they lack this social and communicative side of imitation. A new study has instead targeted the interactive side of imitation directly, and finds that the divide between humans and chimpanzees is less clear cut.