This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato, broadcasting today from the studios of WUSF at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Okay, you've seen the horror movie, right? The bad guy is over there. The protagonists are hiding and waiting, and they whisper, be quiet. He'll hear you.

Okay, the bad guy leaves.

And when they hear, oh, so then they make their quick getaway.

It's called displaced reference, being able to talk about something that is not actually right where you are.

And it turns out it is not just a human thing.

Researchers report this week in the journal Science Advances that orangutans can do a very similar thing.

Here to tell us more about that and other selected short subjects in sciences.

Annali Newitz, science journalist and author based in San Francisco.

Welcome back.

Hey, thanks for having me.

So what did the researchers actually see the orangs do?

So the best part about this study is how they did their research, because they wanted to see if orangutans would talk about danger, not talk about, but communicate about danger that wasn't there.

So the researchers found some sheets that were patterned like tigers and other cat fur

that was associated with predators in the orangutan's habitat in Sumatra.

And they walked on all fours underneath the trees where the orangutans habitat in Sumatra, and they walked on all fours underneath the trees

where the orangutans were, put the sheet over them, and basically pretended to be tigers.

And what they found was that the orangutans, which most of them were mothers with babies,

would completely become silent during that time.

But then, about 20 minutes later, after the scientist wrapped in a sheet was gone, then they would issue distress calls and warning calls.

So it was a very clear example of an animal other than a human talking about something that wasn't within their immediate frame of reference.

And researchers say this is very significant.

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