Jackass penguin call shares traits of human speech, scientists say
Researchers analysed 590 recordings taken in Italian zoos of birds’ distinctive sound
Nicola Davis @NicolaKSDavis
Tue 4 Feb 2020 19.01 EST Last modified on Tue 4 Feb 2020 19.05 EST
The call of the jackass penguin, a wheezing bray that sounds like a donkey in distress, follows some of the same linguistic laws found in human languages, scientists have found.
Researchers say that, just like in our own speech, more frequently used sounds within the call tend to be shorter, while the longer the call, the shorter the sounds within it. It is the first time this pattern has been shown outside primates.
“We can probably find many other species that conform to these laws because this is probably a general principle, rather than something related to human language specifically,” said Dr Livio Favaro, a co-author of the research now at the University of Turin.
Prof Stuart Semple of the University of Roehampton, who was not involved in the work but has previously conducted similar research in non-human primates, said the new study adds weight to the idea that animals tend to convey information in the most efficient way. Such an approach is known as “compression” and is also seen in systems such as morse code where the most commonly used letters have the simplest and shortest sounds – either a dot or a dash.
“If you have compression in the communication system it is more efficient,” said Semple. “So it is the sort of thing that evolution will have acted on because animals that communicate efficiently are expending less energy.”
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/feb/05/jackass-penguin-call-shares-traits-of-human-speech-scientists-say
Hooray for Jackass Penguins.
No voices, just Penguins.
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