Its an old party tricksucking helium from balloons so you can sing like a Wizard of Oz munchkin. When gibbons inhale this non-toxic gas, researchers can detect much more sophisticated impersonations. It turns out that gibbon vocalization techniques mirror those of highly trained soprano opera singers.

Weve shown how the gibbons distinctive song uses the same vocal mechanics as soprano singers, revealing a fundamental similarity with humans, explains Takeshi Nishimura, an associate professor with the Primate Research Institute at Japans Kyoto University.

Scientists had previously believed that human speech was possible, in part, due to suspected evolutionary changes in the larynx, tongue, and vocal tract. But Nishimuras new findings suggest that humans may not have vocal anatomy and ability as unique as previously thought.

Listen to a gibbon call:

And to a gibbon on helium:

We share voice-box physiology with gibbons, and likely other primates, but we also share the way we manipulate sound, Nishimura explains. With both humans and gibbons, the origin of the soundthe larynxis independent from the vocal tools (or training) used to tailor audible messages.

(Related: Humming Fish Reveal Ancient Origin of Vocalization.)

Nishimura and his colleagues studied a young female white-handed gibbon at the Fukuchiyama City Zoo in Kyoto, where they exposed her to helium-rich air. Helium, which shifts gibbon sounds to a resonance that is easier to assess with acoustic equipment, is common in animal vocalization research.

This graceful primate normally makes intense, pure-toneor single-frequencycalls that can travel more than a mile through dense tropical forests in their native Southeast Asia.

It was probably the need to communicate with distant neighbors in such bustling habitats that produced the unique gibbon song. Such ecological and social requirements forced gibbons, using a soprano technique, to produce their pure-tone and loud voices, Nishimura said.

Read the original:
Gibbons and Opera Singers Use the Same Voice Tools