Social mingling shapes how orangutans issue warning calls

“Kiss-squeaks” among red apes provide a peek into how social scenes mold vocal variety

photo of an orangutan looking directly at the camera through trees

Orangutans (one pictured) expand their repertoire of predator-warning calls in low-density populations, researchers say.

Adriano Lameira

Human language, in its many current forms, may owe an evolutionary debt to our distant ape ancestors who sounded off in groups of scattered individuals.