Scientists have managed to decipher the language of orangutans: they use not only roars, but also sighs as letters

Harvard researchers have almost completely deciphered the secret language of primates. It was discovered that orangutans, chimpanzees and some other subspecies use more than a thousand different sounds to communicate – you can understand them and enter into a full-fledged dialogue with the animals.

Scientists have managed to decipher the language of orangutans: they use not only roars, but also sighs as letters

The work of cataloging sounds took bioacoustics three years. A total of 1,033 different sounds were identified that are used by primates for direct communication.

Scientists have managed to decipher the language of orangutans: they use not only roars, but also sighs as letters

Bornean orangutans provided the most information. Scientists divided 1033 sound pulses into 46 acoustic dimensions, a kind of modulation-tones. The same ones are used in complex Asian tone languages, such as Mandarin.

Scientists have managed to decipher the language of orangutans: they use not only roars, but also sighs as letters

When communicating, primates separate “letters” into high-frequency impulses using roars. Sighs transmit low frequencies; all others are considered intermediate signals.

Scientists have managed to decipher the language of orangutans: they use not only roars, but also sighs as letters

In some cases we literally understood what was going on. For example, one of the orangutans clearly indicated to his troop to move with a series of sighs and roaring sounds, and all its members followed the order, says Catherine Hobaiter, lead author of the study.

At the next stage, scientists plan to compile a real phrasebook, writing down all the “words” known to primates. Researchers believe that in this way it will be possible to enter into a dialogue with animals.

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Scientists have managed to decipher the language of orangutans: they use not only roars, but also sighs as letters
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