According to a story filed by The Register, researchers have been studying Gelada baboons, which live in the Ethiopian highlands. They have discovered similarities between the lip-smacking sounds that these primates make and to patterns in human speech.
Thore Bergman, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, said the noises are strikingly similar to those made by human beings, to the point that he said it sounded like people talking while he was in their proximity.
Bergman said,
"I would find myself frequently looking over my shoulder to see who was talking to me, but it was just the geladas. It was unnerving to have primate vocalizations sound so much like human voices."Bergman said that the male Geladas 'smack' their lips to produce a sound similar to a 'wobble' when they communicate with female Geladas. It is these sounds that have the similarity to the tempo found in human speech.
He further commented that this is indicative of how human speech may have evolved, stating,
"The ability to produce complex sounds might have come first. Then, when we could do that, we could attach meanings and communicate in more sophisticated ways. Or it could be that, as we needed to communicate more, we developed an ability to produce a greater variety of sounds."Monkeys smacking their lips is not unusual, but the Geladas are the only ones to perform the action while communicating. Other primates make the sound while eating.
It is thought that monkeys who are part of large groups develop stronger skills in communication. Bergman stated,
"It's a very complex social system. They have some of the largest groups of any primate. These very large group structures may be linked to vocal complexity. There's some evidence across primate that bigger groups make more sounds."For more information, commentary and relevant links, please read the whole story in The Register.
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