Baby Seals Can Change Their Tone of Voice
Published:02 Nov.2021 Source:Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Hoover the seal was initially kept in a family home and could imitate human speech, barking catch phrases in a gruff accent ("Come over here"). But vocal learning -- the ability to imitate sounds -- is a rare trait among mammals. Only a few species may be capable of changing the pitch of their voice to sound higher or lower, which is a crucial element of human speech.
"By looking at one of the few other mammals who may be capable of learning sounds, we can better understand how we, humans, acquire speech, and ultimately why we are such chatty animals," explains MPI's Andrea Ravignani, senior investigator of the study. Are seal pups already capable of changing the pitch (or 'tone height') of their voices?