Monkeys know to say 'like' people

The researchers found that the Geladas monkeys, close relatives of the baboons that only grow in remote areas of Ethiopia, are capable of producing sounds that are easily mistaken for human voices.

Monkey Geladas grows only in remote mountainous areas of Ethiopia. (Photo: BBC)

When analyzing audio and video recordings, scientists found that monkeys Geladas created rhythmic sound structures, very similar to human voices.They believe that this evidence implies the making of noise - a friendly gesture of many primates - as an evolutionary step towards speaking ability.

The head of the research, Professor Thore Bergman from the University of Michigan, said: "Our findings show that non-human primates can pronounce while lip-twisting sounds like a sound. to speak". Professor Bergman revealed, he became interested in the sound created by the geladas while observing this monkey in 2006.

Geladas monkeys have close relatives with baboons. (Photo: BBC)

Geladas is a species that enjoys socializing with remarkable pronunciation, shown by complex facial movements. According to a new study published in Current Biology, the rhythm of the geladas monkey's lip balm creates nearly the same breaks between vowels in many human languages. In both geladas and humans, the pronounced rhythm is similar in the opening and closing of the mouth.

Lips in other primates do not have the same pronunciation characteristics. The cries of monkeys or other gibbons usually consist of only 1 - 2 vowels and lack of smooth and quick rise and fall in intensity and volume like monkey geladas.

Geladas are a species that likes to travel and live in large herds. (Photo: BBC)

The lip balm in monkey geladas is said to be aimed at creating the "intimate conversation" among friends through bringing individuals together. According to researcher Bergman, creating sounds can act as a precursor to language ability.

"Language is not only a great tool for exchanging information. It also has a social function (gossip) and many oral exchanges seem to have the same function as lips , " said Bergman. to speak.

The researcher adds that, when the geladas monkey "speaks" , the product is not recognizable English words. But over the years of research, he found, if near these monkeys, we sometimes have the impression that people are talking around them.