Orangutans can beatbox too, scientists find

Orangutans beatbox in the wild in the same way humans can, a study has found.

But while the ability to make multiple sounds at once is used by humans as a novel form of entertainment, it plays a crucial role in the lives of orangutans.

Observations and recordings of the animals living wild in the forests of Sumatra and Borneo have found that males beatbox when preparing for a fight with a rival.

Females, however, use the ability to warn others in their group of potential danger and approaching predators.

Beatboxing, or biphonic call combination, is created when an individual makes both a “voiced” and a “unvoiced” sound simultaneously.

A voiced sound requires the use of the larynx, also known as the voice box, which involves pushing air through vocal cords and the subsequent vibrations produce sounds.

An unvoiced sound does not utilise the larynx but is an audible noise created by physical movement of the mouth.

The ability to make two sounds at once has been seen in birds previously, but the discovery that orangutans can also beatbox suggests it is a trait that has persisted for millions of years throughout the ape family tree.

Orangutans and humans split evolutionarily around 12 million years ago and the study from the University of Warwick suggests both species inherited the skill from a shared ancestor.

Warwick scientists listened to 3,800 hours of audio taken from two populations of orangutans and found both were able to beatbox, indicating it was a “biological phenomenon” and not a learnt behaviour passed from one group to another.

Dr Adriano Lameira, associate professor of psychology at the University of Warwick, said: “Large male orangutans in Borneo will produce noises known as ‘chomps’ in combination with ‘grumbles’ in combative situations.

“Female orangutans in Sumatra produce ‘kiss squeaks’ at the same time as ‘rolling calls’ to alert others of a possible predator threat.

“The fact that two separate populations of orangutans were observed making two calls simultaneously, is proof that this is a biological phenomenon.”

Madeleine Hardus, an independent researcher and co-author of the paper, said humans rarely utilise the ability to layer sounds.

“The exception is beatboxing, a skilled vocal performance which mimics the complex beats of hip hop music,” she said.

“But the very fact that humans are anatomically able to beatbox, raises questions about where that ability came from. We know now the answer could lie within the evolution of our ancestors.”

The link between orangutans and humans and the shared ability might help scientists understand what the earliest ever language sounded like.

“Now that we know this vocal ability is part of the great ape repertoire, we can’t ignore the evolutionary links,” said Dr Lameira.

“It could be possible that early human language resembled something that sounded more like beatboxing, before evolution organised language into the consonant – vowel structure that we know today.”

Much research has focused on the biological mechanism of birdsong and its role in avian society but little has been done on the same phenomenon in apes.

“Producing two sounds, exactly how birds produce song, resembles spoken language but bird anatomy has no similarity to our own so it is difficult to make links between birdsong, and spoken human language,” Dr Hardus said.

The study is published in the journal PNAS Nexus.