Post by Jeff on Jul 4, 2008 23:10:18 GMT -5
Singing gorillas? Who has ever heard of such a thing? Not many, according to Sarah Schaefer, Ph.D. candidate from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. And don't expect them to perform in front of an audience. Schaefer, who has been studying Sedgwick County Zoo's gorillas for the last six months, says gorillas vocalize the most at the end of the rest period prior to feeding and during feeding. "These vocalizations probably indicate excitement/anticipation of the food. They also vocalize during resting and feeding to keep in contact with each other and to indicate contentment."
The gorillas have a complex repertoire of sounds, ranging from the purr heard when they want to make contact or reassure each other at the end of a rest period just prior to being fed, to a rumble that may be heard when the gorillas start to eat. Other types of vocalizations include a single grunt, multiple grunt , and neigh. Schaefer uses specialized sound equipment to record the various sounds she hears while studying the gorillas. According to Schaefer, "No one has published spectrographic evidence of the rumble, purr, multiple grunts, or the neigh as of yet." A sound spectrograph, such as the one Schaefer is creating, is a graphical representation of a recorded sound that allows the measurement of the precise frequencies and durations of each sound unit.