Did waving originate as a universal gesture and do animals wave too?

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I recently stumbled upon the question of the origins of waving. I was wondering if anyone could help me find where waving originated, and if it is a "universal sign", and if any other species demonstrate "waving" in the same form or a slight variation from what we do.
 
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I'm pretty sure waving originated as a hand held out to show that the hand held no weapon. A gesture of good will if you will. I'm not sure where or when it originated but i know the american indians did it as such.
 
I tend to agree with vedder. Much like the origin of shaking hands, it seems that waving is just a sign of peace (that one isn't carrying a weapon). Of course, there's also the fact that people sometimes wave people toward them, or wave their hand in the air in class (so that the teacher will call on them), but these are much more obvious.