Orangutans love a game of charades

London: Great apes and humans have long been known to share certain character traits and now it seems they share the same tactics for playing parlour games - charades in particular.

Orangutans use the same strategy that generations of partygoers follow when playing the popular game by using actions repeatedly and more frantically until they get their message across.

The findings, by researchers at the University of St Andrews and published in yesterday's edition of Current Biology, give a remarkable glimpse of the origins of language millions of years ago and point to greater cognitive ability in orangutans.