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Bird Song and Animal Calls

  • Birds sing in groups (the dawn chorus, for example), but their singing is not coordinated or synchronized the way human group singing is. The exception is duetting. Male and female songbirds of many species, especially tropical birds, sing in duets. These monogamous pair-bonded birds sing to advertise their claim to a territory, and possibly to maintain their monogamous relationship.
  • Chimpanzees have distinctive pant-hoot calls, but don’t show much coordinated vocalizing. When an individual launches into a pant-hoot, another will sometimes respond.
  • Gelada baboons, like humans, sometimes find themselves in socially stressful situations that result in conflict. They spend large amounts of time and energy engaging in friendly vocalizing (“vocal grooming”) in order to cultivate and continue relationships. This tends to dispel conflict to some degree.

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