Final answer:
Apes have the capacity to learn and use a gestural repertoire to communicate, suggesting that their abilities are flexible and can be augmented through learning, which is evident in their use of symbolic systems and imitation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to whether the gestural repertoire of apes is flexible and can be learned. The answer is True. Apes, including human-reared chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, and orangutans, have demonstrated the capacity to learn and use gestures or tokens to communicate. This suggests they can engage in a kind of gestural communication that is a precursor to human language, known as protolanguage. It also indicates that their communicative abilities are not entirely innate but can be shaped through learning, which is highlighted by their ability to use symbolic systems in interactions to achieve goals. Furthermore, the ability of apes to imitate actions, possibly tied to the mirror neuron system, supports the notion that their gestural repertoire is indeed flexible and is a learned set of behaviors rather than being purely instinctual. As such, it appears that the cognitive processes involved in the use of tools and the development of gestural communication are interlinked, a theory supported by research linking tool use, imitation, and the evolutionary origins of language.