Bats love to babble just like humans
If you spend any time with a baby, it's likely that they will babble. New research has shown that baby bats can also do this.
Science published a paper on Thursday that found similarities in human infant babbling and that of the greater sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx Bilineata), a small bat species that lives in Central and South America.
Researchers believe that humans and bats evolved babbling to prepare for more complex vocal behaviors such as singing or talking.
Ahana Fernandez (animal behavioral ecologist, Museum of Natural History Berlin) says, "It's crazy," because the two distantly related species both babble.
Fernandez, who is a co-author of the paper, hopes that similar sounds in infant voices might reveal common genes involved in vocal learning.
Different species, similar babbling
The greater sac-winged bat, a small and unassuming creature, is quite common. Fernandez says that they are "really cute." They are friendly and have a lot of personality.
Fernandez spent hours recording the sounds of bats and has watched them for many hours. Their babbling sounds like a series repetitive, high-pitched chirps to the human ear.
She says, "Usually we have a colony with several bat pups. Then one of them starts to talk." They can babble for up to 40 minutes."
Their unique babbling is remarkable. Researchers have yet to find any other bat species that can babble like songbirds or humans.
Mirjam Knrnschild was the boss of the museum's behavioral ecology laboratory and bioacoustics lab (and Fernandez) who noticed that the bat pups were babbling. This was years ago. Fernandez began working with bats when she noticed the sound. She said that it sounded similar to human babies. "Yes, I was thinking about the babble of human infants."
Fernandez and his research team began to study babbling. The researchers identified eight characteristics in human baby babble. Human babies, for example, babble in a non-random way. "Babys produce a syllable type rhythmically... ba ba ba, then switch to the next one, 'da da da'," she said.
Researchers listened to bats babbling and found similarities. The bat pups recited precursor "syllables", which eventually appear in their songs as they grow up. All bat pups babbled rhythmically and universally, although the males were the only ones to "sing" in adulthood.
Is it better to babble than cry?
Fernandez's work and that of her colleagues seems to show that this bat species is blundering, according to Erich Jarvis, who studies vocal learning in songbirds at Rockefeller University in New York.
He stated in an email that "their findings are consistent avec the hypothesis that vocal learning abilities and babbling go hand in hand."
However, it remains to be clarified how babbling developed, according to D. Kimbrough Oller of the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Memphis. He was not involved in the study.
He suggests that babbling started as a way for parents to pay attention, and not because of the constant crying. Babbling could indicate that babies are healthy and worth attention.
Oller states, "Once babbling has been lifted off the ground it can provide a foundation for adult vocal capabilities that can then be used for another purpose."
Babbling, also known as crying or babbling, may have started out as an alternative to crying. However, it soon found a evolutionary use in vocal learning species which allowed infants to learn the skills they need later in life.
Jarvis believes that babbling might exist on a continuum. There may be other species who don't know songs or language, and babbling could also exist. Jarvis believes that this new study on babbling in bats will provide the basis for further research into vocal learning and babbling in other animals.
Fernandez states that the greater sac-winged bat, for now, is the only one known to banter, but she believes there are more species. "We have over 1,400 bat species around the world," she said. "I'm absolutely certain we'll find another one."
