Can Baboons Talk? - Alternative View

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Can Baboons Talk? - Alternative View
Can Baboons Talk? - Alternative View

Video: Can Baboons Talk? - Alternative View

Video: Can Baboons Talk? - Alternative View
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We like to feel special. For example, human speech has no analogues in the animal kingdom. It is words that define our species and draw a clear line with other animals. This feature played a cruel joke on us. Now we look down on other representatives of the animal world, calling them "our smaller brothers." However, we know nothing about the origin of human speech. The trouble is that fossils and historical archives cannot reveal this secret, and the voice recorder and audio cassettes were invented too late.

Perhaps human speech is not so unique

Man has unique skills, so he proclaimed himself the crown of nature's creation. Until now, no one from the animal community has infringed on the uniqueness of people. However, a recent scientific study by French scientists led by Jean-Louis Boet showed that some of the features of human speech may be inherent in primates. It is difficult to compare the vocal capabilities of ancient people and their closest relatives based on ancient fossils. Therefore, scientists had to consider the modern anatomical features of two types. Similarities in anatomy between humans and primates in general indicate body parts that evolved from a single common ancestor.

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Baboons can make vowel sounds

French researchers were interested in only one type of monkey. It's about baboons. For 20 years, scientists have observed the vocal capabilities of monkeys and have come to a startling conclusion. Baboons can produce five drawn sounds, very close to vowels. Some of them were differentiated and resembled the human "a", "y", "and". These findings cast doubt on the long-standing scientific theory that language could have appeared 70 to 100 thousand years ago and was the prerogative of man. Previously, scientists argued that the larynx of primates has nothing to do with our anatomical features. This means that great apes cannot extract vowel sounds. Baboons, like other primates, have a high larynx, while nature gave people a low one. This feature gives us the ability to vocalize sounds. However, Dr. Boe's group is confident that the anatomical features of the larynx do not affect the ability to produce sound.

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Some contradictions

In fact, there are other animals with a low larynx, but they do not have the ability to extract vowel sounds. Here's another discrepancy: When human babies are born, they have high larynxes. This does not prevent them from communicating with their parents using lingering sounds. This means only one thing: the ability to produce sound may have more to do with the muscular anatomy that controls the tongue and lips.

Searching for answers

Baboons have an elongated muzzle. Autopsies of individuals that died of natural causes revealed that the vocal anatomy of the species is very similar to that of humans. The vocal cords of primates are approximately the same size as that of an adult, and the vocal tract is the same length as that of a child. Also, in both species, the muscles of the tongue have an amazing similarity. It's just that in baboons they are larger in size, but the primates move them along the vertical and horizontal axes. People do the same.

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Science is rewriting history again

As we have found out, modern baboons can pronounce up to five vowel sounds. There is no doubt that this trait evolved from our common ancestor. Approximately 25 million years ago, there was still no division into humans and apes on Earth, but our predecessors were probably already able to use vocal techniques. If this theory can be confirmed, we can once again rewrite the history of the development of the animal world.

Research findings

The five vowel sounds that great apes can pronounce is enough to put the "language of baboons" on a par with some human languages. For example, 6 vowels of the English language convey 24 sounds. Some cultures have even fewer vowels (3 to 5). Baboons, just like humans, use the practice of combining sequences of sounds. For example, they pronounce a clear "wooow". However, earlier the system of combining speech sequences was also considered a human prerogative. Of course, no one claims that primates have invented a full-fledged language, but the foundation of a potential linguistic culture is still there.

Differences Between Human and Baboon Sound Production

One of the main differences between the vowels spoken by humans and baboons is the frequency of each sound. Primates do not yet know how to break the sequence into separate elements, as we do. Scientists suggest that early human language probably had the same characteristics. Increasing the spacing between vowels has been a matter of a long time. For example, modern people are able to pronounce very clear vowel sounds.

Another similarity parameter

Even though the human alphabet is more complex than the language of baboons, we found another similarity between our species. Both species are omnivores, both live in communities, communicate through sound production, and males tend to be larger than females. It seems science never ceases to amaze us.

Inga Kaisina