Orangutan Found To Mimic Human Speech
- 8 years ago
Big apes such as orangutans are generally deemed incapable of learning new sounds or achieving vocal control; however, an orangutan named Rocky did both.
The ability to communicate via spoken words has long been believed to have originated with the human species, as big apes such as orangutans are generally deemed incapable of learning new sounds or achieving vocal control.
However, an orangutan named Rocky did both.
A team led by Durham University’s Dr. Adriano Lameira exposed the primate to a variety of vowel-like sounds not typical for the animal.
According to press release issued by the university, “the research team found that Rocky…was able to copy the pitch and tone of sounds made by researchers to make vowel-like calls.”
The team then, “…compared these sounds against the largest available database of orangutan calls…” and, “…concluded that the sounds made by Rocky were different to those on the database, showing that he was able to learn new sounds and control the action of his voice in a ‘conversational’ context.”
Said Dr. Lameira, “This indicates that the voice control shown by humans could derive from an evolutionary ancestor with similar voice control capacities as those found in orangutans and in all great apes more generally.”
The ability to communicate via spoken words has long been believed to have originated with the human species, as big apes such as orangutans are generally deemed incapable of learning new sounds or achieving vocal control.
However, an orangutan named Rocky did both.
A team led by Durham University’s Dr. Adriano Lameira exposed the primate to a variety of vowel-like sounds not typical for the animal.
According to press release issued by the university, “the research team found that Rocky…was able to copy the pitch and tone of sounds made by researchers to make vowel-like calls.”
The team then, “…compared these sounds against the largest available database of orangutan calls…” and, “…concluded that the sounds made by Rocky were different to those on the database, showing that he was able to learn new sounds and control the action of his voice in a ‘conversational’ context.”
Said Dr. Lameira, “This indicates that the voice control shown by humans could derive from an evolutionary ancestor with similar voice control capacities as those found in orangutans and in all great apes more generally.”