Apes May Be Closer to Speaking Than We Thought
(Newser) Researchers have long assumed that speaking is an impossibility for apes because they can't properly control their vocalizations or their breathing. But now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin is reporting in the journal Animal Cognition that apes may in fact be closer to talking than we thought. Marcus Perlman and colleagues reached this conclusion after watching 71 hours of 40-year-old gorilla Koko, best known for learning American Sign Language, as she interacts with researchers. They discovered that she repeatedly performs nine different behaviors assumed to be outside the ability of apes, including blowing her nose into a tissue, playing wind instruments, huffing moisture onto glass before cleaning it, chattering into a telephone, and coughing on command.
"She doesn't produce a pretty, periodic sound when she performs these behaviors, like we do when we speak," Perlman says. "But she can control her larynx enough to produce a controlled grunting sound." This discovery may throw a wrench in the theory that speech evolved only in humans since we were last linked to chimpanzees. Koko's specific behaviors "aren't proof of her exceptionality, just her potential given the right set of circumstancesin this case 40 years of immersion in a mostly human world," reports UPI . "Koko bridges a gap," Perlman says. "It's not as fine as human control, but it is certainly control." (See how humans have been raising this baby gorilla .)
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Plant of the Apes anyone? I have always thought that we are a lot closer to the apes then many people think (and some people don't think we're related at all, but that's another article) and wonder what they think of us? I would suppose it would depend on the ape, if it's in the wild, if it's in a zoo, if it's being treated well or if it's being used for medical experiments. If they actually can talk, then what?
It also makes me wonder about some of the people I have met in my life. Online and off.
Well, some of the ones here are NT certainly aren't shy about expressing their views!
Apes have been talking for a very long time. We simply don't understand their language.
That's how it is with my cat too .
Dear Friend Randy: For many years, Neanderthals were though5t by scientists to be dull bruisersincapable of art, symbolization, language, speech, and sophisticated tool making.
As sciences have advanced we find this not to be the case.
Maybe the same will prove true for Apes.
The future will hold the answers.
We need to get over ourselves sometimes. That blurs our analyses.
Good thought provoking article.
Thanks.
E.
Good find! I'm not surprised at this, animals are much smarter than we give them credit for....
Do you speak Catonese ?
Have you seen the video clip of the chimp hugging Jane Goodall when it was being released into the jungle ? So sweet .
I was thinking more along the lines of David Brin'sUplift series of books.
Apes have been talking for a very long time. We simply don't understand their language.
If we begin to understand what they are saying, will we move them up in the chain of how we think of animals? Will we start thinking of them as just different kinds of humans? If that happens then we have a lot to apologize to them for.
Once a liberal always a liberal ...
Randy
Because we do not understand the sounds (language) they are making to one another, does not mean they are not speaking.
Perhaps they will speak to us, if and when they deem us worthy of their attentionor have something important to say to us
It would be nice to be able to understand what it is they are trying to say. I have read about some, such as Koko, who can do sign language of some type, but I wonder how much of it is intelligence and how much of it is repetition? I mean when I say the words "hot dog" to my dogs they know they're going to get a piece of hot dog as a treat, so I believe they understand what the words mean. Or is it just training and repetition??
Marilyn Vos Savant (touted as having the world's highest IQ) said in a column once that individual dogs can not understand that you are actually saying their name. That they can't conceptualize that that is their individual name. However as the owner of three dogs (actually owned by three dogs
) I know that each of them knows who I am talking to when I say their name, so is it the same with apes? Do apes have the intelligence to form these thoughts on their own and try to communicate them to us (such as with Koko?) or are they just reacting to the individual sounds and hand gestures taught to them by constant repetition?
Many, many species of animals speak, either through vocalizations of some sort, gestures, or other non-vocal means. As smart as humans are supposed to be, we should have long ago learned to LISTEN BETTER.
When all comes around, we may learn that humans are the most technological animals on the planet, but far from the brightest.
Get your hands off me, you damn dirty ape!
Larry... I agree 100% !
I am owned by 2 dogs, and it's amazing the words they can understand!
Maybe they're just not speaking to us because they think we're a lower life form?
Hey human, your inability to understand isn't my problem, it's yours. So STFU.
Looks like the same expression on my ex-mother-in-law's face most of the time.
It wasn't so funny when it was you she was looking at. (shudder)
I guess if you constipated, that would be a good time to go visit her, and get the $hit scared out of you!
Apes May Be Closer to Speaking Than We Thought- and yet, they still throw their dookie at people, and rip their ears, arms, testicles off...
Maybe it's better if we don't teach them how to speak.
And humans slaughter each other by the millions. Always on the lookout for faster and better ways to kill each other.
Now that really sound like an advanced agenda...Damn apes, they haven't started a war in centuries, they must be savages.
And humans slaughter each other by the millions. Always on the lookout for faster and better ways to kill each other.
Now that really sound like an advanced agenda...Damn apes, they haven't started a war in centuries, they must be savages
there's definitely something wrong with this picture!!
I did see a documentary where some male chimps from one group did stalk and kill, for no apparent reason other then to just do it, a male chimp from another group. Maybe we're not as far away from the trees as we'd like to think.
You humans are so full of yourself...
You humans are so full of yourself...
Very true!