Move over Mason Ramsey, there’s a new yodeler in town. The best yodeler in the world isn’t human, but rather of the monkey variety.
Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Vienna studied monkey calls at Bolivia’s La Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary. They published their findings in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
Researchers studied CT scans of the black and gold howler monkey, tufted capuchin, black-capped squirrel monkey, and Peruvian spider monkey. Afterward, scientists learned why the primates should be considered kings of not just the jungle, but yodeling too.
According to the study, monkeys have thin vocal membranes in their throats, which sit above the vocal folds in the larynx. Humans once had the structure as well, but it disappeared from the species amid evolution.
How Monkeys Yodel
With the vocal membranes, monkeys can include “voice breaks” in their calls. The breaks occur at the same frequency as yodeling does. However, it hits a much higher octave than humans do.
Among all the yodeling primates, New World monkeys were found to have the largest vocal membranes. The species, which the study refers to as “ultra-yodelers,” can prompt frequency jumps five times larger than humans can. They can also exceed three musical octaves, the study found.
So how exactly do monkeys use their yodeling capabilities? The study found that the primates’ calls help them differentiate themselves and communicate.
“These results show how monkeys take advantage of an evolved feature in their larynx—the vocal membrane—which allows for a wider range of calls to be produced, including these ultra-yodels,” senior author Dr. Jacob Dunn said.
“This might be particularly important in primates, which have complex social lives and need to communicate in a variety of different ways.”
“It’s highly likely this has evolved to enrich the animals’ call repertoire and is potentially used for attention-grabbing changes, call diversification, or identifying themselves,” Dunn added.
Meanwhile, lead author Dr. Christian T. Herbst called the findings “a fascinating example of how nature provides the means of enriching animal vocalization, despite their lack of language.”
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