A deep intensive study on whether or not monkeys could physically talk is actually happening as we speak. It is very interesting in the fact of knowing if a monkey can speak like a human let alone would be a huge finding for evolution and science in general. The study was directed and led straight to the dimensions and outlooks of the
vocal cords in monkeys and the tongues, lips, and really anything having to do with speech. Studies kept coming back negative until
Astif A. Ghazanfar, a neuroscientist at Princeton, teamed up with Dr. Lieberman and Dr. Fitch, a student and a professor at Brown University, studied the direct speech from three
Rhesus Macaque monkeys
.
The results were out of the ordinary. The monkeys could actually make out five separate vowels. This was a whole new step for the study. But monkey's simply just don't have the brain power to make the speech. This now shows a some what better understanding on the evolution and how us humans were able to develop such a complex and beautiful trait such as speech. And even though monkeys can make out vowels they would still need to be able to make out constants with their vocal cords first to make it to the next step in speaking.
It is very interesting how monkeys have the ability to speak but don't actually have the brain power to do so! So cool
ReplyDeleteWow this is very cool! I wonder if scientists will discover more things about the speech of monkeys, it would be very interesting because they are already very similar to humans.
ReplyDeleteI believe that each species of animals have their own form of communication. Animals of the same species can understand each other, however, I wonder if one species can understand a different species? It's not surprising to me that monkey's almost have the ability to speak like humans because they are our closest relative. Maybe one day they will eventually evolve the ability to communicate with us.
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