A baby lar gibbon, also known as the white-handed gibbon, born three weeks ago at the Spaycific’Zoo, is held by its mother. The species is classified as endangered on the IUCN red list, mainly as a result of deforestation in south-east Asia.
Photograph: Jean-François Monier/AFP/Getty Images
Bin auf der Suche nach CC-Fotos von #Gibbons, aus denen ich mir ein Benutzerbild basteln könnte. Ich finde es ja immer wieder gut, wenn ich so runterscrolle und da ist erst mal nur ein laaanger Arm zu sehen 😆
(Bildquelle: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=529858 )
ION Music Festival. Voces8 perform: Orlando GIBBONS: Drop, Drop, Slow Tears. TALLIS: Te Lucis Ante Terminum. Alec ROTH: Night Prayer. Paul SMITH: Nunc Dimittis. PÄRT: Da Pacem. Felix MENDELSSOHN: Denn Er Hat Seinen Engeln Bef...
ION Music Festival. Voces8 perform: Orlando GIBBONS: Drop, Drop, Slow Tears. TALLIS: Te Lucis Ante Terminum. Alec ROTH: Night Prayer. Paul SMITH: Nunc Dimittis. PÄRT: Da Pacem. Felix MENDELSSOHN: Denn Er Hat Seinen Engeln Bef...
ION Music Festival. Voces8 perform: Orlando GIBBONS: Drop, Drop, Slow Tears. TALLIS: Te Lucis Ante Terminum. Alec ROTH: Night Prayer. Paul SMITH: Nunc Dimittis. PÄRT: Da Pacem. Felix MENDELSSOHN: Denn Er Hat Seinen Engeln Bef...
Gibbon song may be music to the ears of human language students
#Gibbons and humans have more in common than might immediately seem apparent. Among many behavioural traits shared by our two species is singing. Not just that – the songs of gibbons have the potential to teach us about the origin of our own human capacities. Many are threatened by #palmoil #deforestation 🌳✨ #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
🎶 🐵 #Gibbons are musical maestros. Their songs unlock the secrets of human language. Let’s protect them and their symphony. Many are threatened by #palmoil #deforestation 🌳✨ #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/02/21/gibbon-song-may-be-music-to-the-ears-of-human-language-students/
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The Japanese research emerges from a framework in evolutionary studies (with papers such as this one, this one and this one and here) in which cross-species comparison permits speculation on the origin of human capacities.
Among the features of gibbon behaviour that correspond to humans are:
Walking instruments
As Martin Braun reminds us, all mammals are walking wind instruments. Research in acoustic communication addresses several key questions, among them:
Back to the study
The authors of the AJPA study are interested in all of these interrelated factors. But their paper focuses in particular on the way the distinct acoustic signal (or sound) of female gibbons is produced and what this tells us about the feedback loop between sound-production and self-perception in the subject.
At the core of the AJPA study is a series of experiments – first modelled on a computer and then carried out in the laboratory – designed to test a rather complex theory: that female gibbons have the ability to modify the configuration of their vocal tracts in order to amplify signals in a specific range.
In this range, their voices are capable of extraordinarily effective exploitation of limited anatomical means.
In other words, humans and gibbons have both evolved neural control over their respiratory tracts. It is therefore what the brain achieves that allows this level of performance: the vocal tracts themselves are not especially well-suited to their task!
The rowdy, singing gibbon gang – all of them are endangered by deforestation
Pileated Gibbon Hylobates pileatus
by Palm Oil DetectivesWestern Hoolock Gibbon Hoolock hoolock
by Palm Oil DetectivesEastern Hoolock Gibbon Hoolock leuconedys
by Palm Oil DetectivesSkywalker Hoolock Gibbon Hoolock tianxing
by Palm Oil DetectivesKloss’s Gibbon Hylobates klossii
by Palm Oil DetectivesBornean White-bearded Gibbon Hylobates albibarbis
by Palm Oil DetectivesMüller’s gibbon Hylobates muelleri
by Palm Oil DetectivesSilvery Gibbon Hylobates moloch
by Palm Oil DetectivesAbbott’s Gray Gibbon Hylobates abbotti
by Palm Oil Detectives by Palm Oil DetectivesNorthern Gray Gibbon Hylobates funereus
by Palm Oil DetectivesTonkin Black Crested Gibbon Nomascus concolor ssp. concolor
by Palm Oil DetectivesRed-cheeked Gibbon Nomascus gabriellae
by Palm Oil DetectivesSouthern White-cheeked Gibbon Nomascus siki
by Palm Oil DetectivesNorthern Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbon Nomascus annamensis
by Palm Oil DetectivesNorthern White-cheeked Gibbon Nomascus leucogenys
by Palm Oil DetectivesCao-vit Gibbon Nomascus nasutus
by Palm Oil DetectivesBlack Crested Gibbon Nomascus concolor
by Palm Oil DetectivesHainan Gibbon Nomascus hainanus
by Palm Oil Detectives by Palm Oil DetectivesWhere musical instruments such as flutes and trumpets have relatively fixed properties of bore, length and shape, the respiratory tracts of mammals are capable of modification in a variety of ways, including:
Significantly, all of these are more-or-less involved in the production of the variety of sounds on which language tends to depend.
But the aim of the Japanese research was to explore whether gibbons “tune” the shaping of their throats, mouths and lips to the frequencies generated by their vocal folds.
It’s a gas
The researchers used helium in their experiments. The use of helium as the medium in which the gibbon vocalised is thus a means of ascertaining how the subject responded to the effect – which in humans tends to shift the resonant frequencies of the voice towards “squeaky” higher “formants” (the acoustic response within an instrument – or voice – that defines the quality of sound, or timbre).
As in humans, gibbon vocalisation in the helium condition resulted in a shift of resonance to higher formants. Significantly, this was more pronounced in the higher range of the gibbon calls. This higher range marks their characteristic achievement of high-intensity vocal production able to carry over distance.
If this suggests parallels with human singing, it’s worth spelling out that all female gibbons achieve this remarkable capacity for self-amplification instinctively. Gibbon song is not learned – the ability is hard-wired.
By contrast, the opera singers to which the study’s title refers achieve a parallel ability only after careful training.
To hear the more effortlessly competent performance of a variety of gibbon species, a visit to Thomas Geissmann’s impressive gibbon research website is warmly recommended.
What comes next?
The research done by Nishimura and team opens up some fascinating avenues for follow-up studies, including:
One of the most interesting things about gibbon/human voice comparison is how easy it is for suitably uninhibited humans to elicit vocal responses from gibbons by imitating their song.
This doesn’t work for many species – try it out on most dogs, cats, horses, chimpanzees and you will encounter failure … or worse. https://www.youtube.com/embed/iAmx_XdQky8?wmode=transparent&start=0
But gibbons safely contained behind barriers are remarkably tolerant of human attempts at their song. I have personal experience of this at Twycross Zoo in the UK and Perth Zoo in Australia. My youngest son, when a boy treble, was able to imitate female gibbon calls with considerable accuracy.
This seems consistent with his ability to perform the high-lying solos in works such as Allegri’s Miserere that require precisely the acoustic control explored in this study, and whose range conforms to that in which the gibbons sing most effectively.
So some investigation of similarities with the voices of pre-adolescents in both species might also be of interest, especially with a view to tracing the means by which the ability is acquired in gibbons.
While the gibbon call is clearly acquired as a means of high-intensity transmission that permits communication across distance in dense rainforest vegetation, I have heard gibbons “rehearsing” precisely the same songs quietly: a solitary female in an isolated pen at Twycross Zoo in the UK; and two juveniles in quarantine under the supervision of their curator at Perth Zoo in Australia.
This adds additional dimensions of the roles of energy and pragmatics to the findings of this study: it illustrates that, while gibbons are capable, much like human sopranos, of ear-splitting volume, they can also achieve the same calls quietly.
In “engineering” terms this means they can control breath-flow alongside the “tuning” effects already described.
Investigation of these features would be of interest in order to tease out implications of this study for the evolution of human language.
Nicholas Bannan, Professor in Music Education, University of Western Australia. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
#animalBehaviour #AnimalBiodiversityNews #animals #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #deforestation #Gibbon #Gibbons #language #monkey #palmoil #Primate #songs
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