Some animals make themselves sound bigger than they are — and this process could shed light on how humans first started to speak, a study has found. The noise-based strategy — which experts dub 'dishonest signalling' — sees the creatures create an exaggerated impression of body size to attract mates. Male red deer, for example, produce low-frequency calls that make them appear bigger than they actually are to potential sexual partners. 'Speculatively, it brings us closer to understanding human speech evolution: our ancestors may have learnt how to speak after learning how to sound bigger or how to hit high notes.' The team found that animals which make noises to fake their body size are often skilled sound learners, with flexible voice capacities.

Source: Daily Mail July 09, 2020 08:29 UTC