Female gibbons know how to bust a move, according to researchers. Kai Caspar, a German zoologist, became interested in the long-armed apes’ dancing when he noticed how certain gibbons respond to a mirror. “The body becomes stiff, and then these robot-dance-like movements commence,” he says. He and his team analyzed the female gibbons’ movements and found that the key characteristics of human dance are present in their choreography. Usually with their backs to the viewer, the apes sway, dip, and pose bizarrely. It seems the females use dance to grab the attention of their mates in the Asian tropical forests where they live. Scientists say it’s unusual for female animals to dance, and even more unusual for this behavior to happen between monogamous partners, as many of the gibbons in this study were. So far, researchers haven’t found any comparable dance-like behaviors in other apes. Gibbons are underappreciated by scientists, Caspar says, but it’s possible this discovery could change that. “I really hope,” he adds, “that this could help move them somewhat more into the spotlight.”