Endangered lemur from Madagascar has rhythm ‘just like humans’

By Mark Waghorn via SWNS

A 'singing' lemur that lives in Madagascar has rhythm...just like humans, according to new research.

The critically endangered indri synchronizes its dulcet tones with choir-mates - a skill only humans and birds were believed to possess.

As soon as one bursts into song other group members join in - even matching notes!

They can even imitate a style resembling off beat 'swing time' sounds of jazz.

The discovery sheds fresh light on how humans came to appreciate melodies.

Lead author Dr. Andrea Ravignani, of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in The Netherlands, said: "There is a longstanding interest in understanding how human musicality evolved, but musicality is not restricted to humans.

"Looking for musical features in other species allows us to build an 'evolutionary tree' of musical traits, and understand how rhythm capacities originated and evolved in humans."

The indri is one of the world's largest lemurs. It is about two and a half feet tall with a striking black and white coat. It lives in the rainforest within small family groups - and communicates by singing.

Unlike humans, the male hits higher pitches while the female has the deeper voice.

Over a period of twelve years, an international team visited the island off the coast of southeast Africa.

They found the animal's songs displayed a beat previously thought unique to humans - known as 'categorical rhythm.'

It's found across human musical cultures when intervals between sounds have exactly the same duration (1:1) or doubled duration (1:2).

This type of rhythm makes a song easily recognizable - even if sung at different speeds.

First author Chiara de Gregorio, a Ph.D. student at Turin University, said the phenomenon had never been identified in a non-human mammal.

She suggests the 'music-like' rhythms evolved independently among 'singing' species.

The last common ancestor of humans and indri lived in Africa 77.5 million years ago.

de Gregorio said: "Rhythm may make it easier to produce and process songs - or even to learn them."

She and colleagues recorded songs from 39 indris living in their natural habitat in twenty groups.

Members tend to chirp away together - in harmonized duets and choruses.

The indri songs had the classic rhythmic categories - both 1:1 and 1:2 - as well as a typical slowing down known as 'ritardando.'

The unpredictable patterns are found in several musical traditions - and are similar to the timings of an improvising jazz musician.

Male and female songs had a different tempo - but showed the same rhythm.

Ravignani explained: "Categorical rhythms are just one of the six universals that have been identified so far.

"We would like to look for evidence of others including an underlying 'repetitive' beat and a hierarchical organization of beats - in indri and other species."

He encouraged other researchers to gather data on indri and other endangered species.

Ravignani said: "Otherwise it could be too late to witness their breath-taking singing displays."

Synchronized singing produces louder songs which may deter other indris from trespassing on an individual's territory.

The indri is revered by Madagascans - and plays an important role in their myths and legends.

It is facing extinction as tens of thousands of miners descend on the island in the Indian Ocean - in a sapphire rush.

They are destroying the animal's habitat in the hope of striking it rich - by finding rare and valuable gems.

There are just 10,000 left. Locally, the indri is known as the babakoto which means little father or ancestor of man.

The native people believe that the indri - with its lack of a visible tail - resembles their forefathers.

As a result, there is a certain taboo over consuming it - meaning it is protected.

It spends most of its time mating, sleeping and eating leaves, flowers, plants and seeds.

Madagascar has developed its own distinct ecosystems and wildlife since it split from the African continent 160 million years ago.

More than 90 percent of its reptiles, plant life and mammals exist nowhere else on Earth. The study is in Current Biology.