(Credit: Sergey Uryadnikov/Shutterstock) An orangutan named Rocky is using "wookies" to reveal new insights into the origins of language. In experiments conducted by a researcher at Amsterdam University, Rocky learned and recited a basic vocabulary of sounds, producing vocalizations no orangutan is known to make. By learning to mimic his human instructor, this talkative primate is lending support to one of the leading theories of language evolution.
Adriano Lameira, now a professor in the department of anthropology at Durham University, used food rewards to train Rocky to mimic the sounds a human was making. The sounds, called "wookies", differ from vocalizations naturally produced by orangutans, termed "grumphs." Over time, Rocky got better at producing the wookies, learning to modulate his vocal folds — thin curtains of tissue that vibrate when air is passed over them — and other components of sound production to match the human enunciations. Rocky's abilities prove ...
