Toothed whales catch food in the deep using vocal fry register

Dolphins and other toothed whales are large brained top predators that captivate our imagination; they are extremely social, they cooperate, and can hunt prey down to 2 km deep in complete darkness with echolocation.

Wagner's 'difficult' reputation unwarranted says research

The composer Richard Wagner is well-known, even notorious, for writing operas that can challenge both performers and listeners. A new study published in the Journal of the Acoustic Society of America reveals that Wagner set ...

Birds can dance, really

Researchers at Harvard University have found that humans aren't the only ones who can groove to a beat -- some other species can dance, too. This capability was previously believed to be specific to humans. The research team ...

Seals have a sense of rhythm

Rhythm is important for human music and speech. But are we the only mammal with a sense of rhythm? In an experimental study published in Biology Letters, a team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics ...

Recordings show some 'mute' animals communicate vocally: Study

More than 50 animal species previously thought to be mute actually communicate vocally, according to a study published on Tuesday which suggested the trait may have evolved in a common ancestor over 400 million years ago.

Simplified voice box enriches human speech

An ongoing debate among scientists, on why chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates cannot speak or sing like humans, has focused mainly on evolutionary changes in human brain development. Attention has now expanded to anatomical ...

A new approach to identify mammals good at learning sounds

Why are some animals good at learning sounds? Did this skill appear when animals started "faking" their body size by lowering calls? In a new study on a wide range of mammals, Andrea Ravignani from the Max Planck Institute ...

Bats can use 'vocal learning' to change their tune

Humans learn to speak by mimicking speech sounds. Are there other mammals who can learn sounds by imitation? In an experimental study, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen and the Ludwig ...

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