Can orangutans really talk like humans?

The movie "Dawn for the Planet of the Apes" is a hit all over the world. The protagonist, the chimpanzee "Caesar", not only possesses human intelligence and emotions, but can also speak and communicate with others. But in reality, can orangutans really talk like humans?

Modern orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and some ancient apes all belong to the orangutan family. They are the animals closest to humans and have a certain IQ. The extremely high talent of these primates in "learning sign language" has long been confirmed, but why have scientists so far failed to train orangutans to speak in human language?

Scientists say that defects in the orangutan's body structure are the fundamental reason that prevents them from speaking.

French "Science and Life" magazine quoted Didier Edmoulin, a linguist at the Stendhal University in Grenoble, as saying that the structure of orangutan's vocal organs is different from that of humans. They do not have the same muscle structure and nerve connections as humans. , so the way to control vocalization is very different. Compared with humans, the larynx of orangutans grows higher, the larynx cavity is smaller, and the elongated face results in a longer and flatter mouth shape, making it difficult for them to pronounce most vowels and consonants. In addition, primates have stiffer vocal cords and are unable to control their breathing when vocalizing like humans, causing their sounds to be unstable and often just instinctive roars or "grunts."

Primatologist Adrien Meguelle Tichyon of France's National Center for Scientific Research said that although primates' body structure prevents them from adjusting the sounds they make, "it would still be possible if they had cognitive and thinking abilities." arrive".

He believes that the main reason that prevents primates from speaking is that their neurons and muscle tissue do not allow them to control speech independently of emotions. Many scientific studies have proven that the roaring behavior of orangutans is mainly related to the subcortical functional area that controls emotions, rather than the area in the left brain that controls language ability.

Therefore, although individual scientific experiments have given people a vague idea that orangutans seem to be able to intentionally produce certain sounds of human language, these "close relatives" of humans will probably never be able to truly speak like humans.

animal tags：