A wild gorilla is composing a song during a meal

ByTambako The Jaguar

The observation results so far show that apes such as chimpanzees and bonobos sing songs during meals, but newly gorillas also composing songs to express satisfaction of meals It turned out.

PLOS ONE: Food-Associated Calling in Gorillas (Gorilla g. Gorilla) in the Wild
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0144197

Wild gorillas compose happy songs that they hum humans meals | New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2078781-wild-gorillas-compose-happy-songs-that-they-hum-during-meals/


Behavior that an animal sings while eating is an action seen in apes such as chimpanzees and bonobos, but gorilla songs classified as the same apes have not been adequately observed so far. Eva Luef, who is studying primate studies at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, observed a group of wild Pear Roland gorillas inhabiting the Congo to see if the gorilla sings a song. Then it became clear that the gorilla is singing two different kinds of songs.

The first one is a low-pitched hymn song that is singing to express meals' satisfaction. You can actually listen to gorilla songs from the following.


The second one is like a melody like a combination of several notes. You can watch from around 0:04 of the following audio file, but it may be difficult to listen a little because the sounds of the natural world are intermingled. Mr. Luef analyzes that "wild gorillas are not singing the same song every time, they are composing songs for each meal."


Ali Vella-Irving, a gorilla keeper at the Toronto Zoo in Canada, says the zoos gorillas often sing songs during a meal. It seems that when gorilla is eating favorite food, she sings songs louder than usual. Also, because the gorilla's voice is different for every one, Vella-Irving can also tell which gorilla is singing.

However, according to Mr. Luef who observed the wild gorilla, the wild gorilla is different from the gorilla in the zoo, only the male leader male sings a song during the meal. Mr. Luef says that only the leader of the wild gorilla sings a song, "To express satisfaction of the meal" "To notify the group's fellows that the mealtime has not ended, it is not time to move yet To tell it "I guess.

ByRod Waddington

Zanna Clay, a psychologist at Birmingham University in the United Kingdom, is studying Bonobo's communication technology, says that gorillas and bonobos are different in how they sing while eating. Clay said, "The reason why barks during meals differ from species to animal reflects the social structure of the apes.In a group of gorillas, the male of the leader decides the behavior of herds and feeds the females Only male sings a song while eating, as it is necessary to do. "

Also, as songs singing by apes such as gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, etc. have various variations for each species, "If studying the singing of an apes by a meal, it may be possible to understand the origins of human languages Clay thinks.

ByMartha de Jong-Lantink