Differences in human and great ape laughter reveal clues to the origin of speech

By Chiara De Gregorio, Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Warwick

Humans are not the only animals that communicate. Birds sing to attract mates, dolphins use signature whistles that identify individuals, and many primates produce complex vocalisations that help them coordinate their social lives.

By studying these communication systems, researchers can reconstruct some of the evolutionary steps that eventually led to one of our defining traits: language.

Language doesn’t just mean making sounds – it requires an extraordinary ability to control them. Human speech…

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