Like Humans, Bornean Orangutans Also Have Their Own Language To Communicate

Orangutans have their own language (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - A study published on March 21 in Nature Ecology & Evolution, revealed that Orangutans have their own language. Just like humans, language is shaped by social interaction.

The study, led by Dr. Adriano R. Lameira, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick, has recorded calls from 76 individual orangutans across six populations in the swamps and lowland rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.

According to experts, the endangered creatures have different vocal personalities, depending on the social group in which they live and communicate.

In particular, low-density groups of orangutans have conventional vocal calls. The high-density group of orangutans, on the other hand, exhibited more authentic and acoustically unpredictable vocal calls.

When compared to other apes, orangutans are less likely to make a lot of noise. Generally, they travel through the forest alone.

The researchers also found that orangutan populations differ naturally in population density, from groups that socialize intensely to those that are more dispersed.

"Low-density populations don't vary much in their signal choices, but they do have a relatively rich set of choices," Dr. Lameira told MailOnline.

Whereas high-density populations were more frenzied, there was wild variation in their call variants, but very original and quickly lost call variants and were never produced again.

"That ultimately leaves individuals with a relatively poor base set of calls that they use consistently," Dr. Lameira explained.

According to previous research, humans and orangutans share about 97 percent of their DNA. If the communication of orangutan calls is influenced by social conditions, then this is most likely the case with our ancestors, such as Homo erectus.

Orangutans were the first species to diverge from the great ape lineage. But it is also the only great ape to use vowels and consonants like sounds in complex ways, parallel to human speech.

"This new evidence reinforces the new view that great apes are highly desirable and unique model species to enhance our (understanding) of the origins of language and language," Lameria said.