If you thought that beatboxing was a uniquely human skill, feel again – orangutans also can make two noises at once.
The researchers believe the findings could provide clues to the evolution of human speech and beatboxing.
They say early human language may have been closer to beatboxing than how we speak today, offering an unexpectedly block-rocking image of ancient human history.
Scientists observed two populations of vocalizing orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra across 3,800 hours and found primates within both groups used the same vocal phenomenon.
Dr Adriano Lameira, connect professor of psychology at the University of Warwick, said: “Humans use the lips, tongue, and jaw to make the unvoiced sounds of consonants while activating the vocal folds in the larynx with exhaled air to make the voiced, open sounds of vowels.
Study Reveals Orangutans Can Simultaneously Produce Two Distinct Sounds
“Orangutans can also produce both types of sounds—and both at once.
“For example, large male orangutans in Borneo will produce noises known as ‘chomps’ and ‘grumbles’ in confrontational situations. Female orangutans in Sumatra simultaneously produce ‘kiss squeaks’ as ‘rolling calls’ to alert others of a possible predator threat.
“The fact that two separate populations of orangutans were observed making two calls simultaneously is proof that this is a biological phenomenon.”
Co-author and independent researcher Madeleine Hardus added: “Humans rarely produce voiced and voiceless noises simultaneously. The exception is beatboxing, a skilled vocal performance that mimics the complex beats of hip-hop music.
“But the fact that humans are anatomically able to beatbox raises questions about where that ability came from. We know now the answer could lie within the evolution of our ancestors.”
Orangutans can make two separate sounds simultaneously, much like songbirds or human beatboxers, according to a study led by the University of Warwick.
Academics say the findings provide clues about the evolution of human speech, as well as human beatboxing.
Orangutans’ Dual Noise-Making Sheds Light on Primate Vocal Capabilities
Scientists observed two populations of vocalizing orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra across a total of 3,800 hours and found primates within both groups used the same vocal phenomenon.
Dr Adriano Lameira, connect professor of psychology at the University of Warwick, said: “Humans use the lips, tongue, and jaw to make the unvoiced sounds of consonants while activating the vocal folds in the larynx with exhaled air to make the voiced, open sounds of vowels. Orangutans can also produce both types of sounds—and both at once. For example, large male orangutans in Borneo will produce noises known as ‘chomps’ and ‘grumbles’ in confrontational situations. Female orangutans in Sumatra simultaneously produce ‘kiss squeaks’ as ‘rolling calls’ to alert others of a possible predator threat. The fact that two separate populations of orangutans were observed making two calls simultaneously is proof that this is a biological phenomenon.”
Co-author and independent researcher Madeleine Hardus added: “Humans rarely produce voiced and voiceless noises simultaneously. The exception is beatboxing, a skilled vocal performance that mimics the complex beats of hip-hop music. But the fact that humans are anatomically able to beatbox raises questions about where that ability came from. We know now the answer could lie within the evolution of our ancestors.”
According to the authors, the vocal control and coordination abilities of wild great apes have been underestimated compared to the focus on the vocal abilities of birds.
“Producing two sounds, exactly how birds produce a song, resembles spoken language, but bird anatomy has no similarity to our own, so it is difficult to make links between birdsong and spoken human language,” continued Hardus.
The new research has implications for the vocal capabilities of our shared ancestors and the evolution of human speech and beatboxing. Lameira said: “Now that we know this vocal ability is part of the great ape repertoire, we can’t ignore the evolutionary links.
Researchers Discover Orangutans’ Remarkable Dual Vocalization Abilities
It could be possible that early human language resembled something that sounded more like beatboxing before evolution organized language into the consonant—vowel structure that we know today.”
Roaming the dense jungles of South-East Asia, one might hear a distant call faintly resembling a beatboxer, but rather than emanating from a human, it might just be coming from an orangutan. The great apes have been heard producing vowel and consonant sounds at the same time – a complex feat even for us – shining light on the evolution of human speech.
Adriano Lameira and his colleagues at the University of Warwick in the UK recorded two groups of orangutans in two distinct locations in Indonesia for around 3800 hours.
The researchers found that female orangutans in Sumatra simultaneously make consonant-like kissing sounds and vowel-like hu-cooing sounds to warn their group if predators are around. Similarly, males in Borneo have a call that simultaneously uses mouth chomping and guttural grumbles from the larynx.
