A team of researchers from France and Italy has discovered that the calls of African penguins ( Spheniscus demersus ) conform to the linguistic laws used by humans. This endangered species of penguin is known for its distinctive calls, which some describe as a “donkey braying”, earning them the nickname “dumb penguins”. Now, in the study published in the journal Biology Letters, the scientists describe the vocal recordings of these penguins and what they learned from them: in total they collected and analyzed 590 vocalizations from 28 adult males living in Italian zoos.
Analysis of these vocalizations revealed that the penguins' calls conformed to the two linguistic laws developed to explain how human languages work . According to experts, people and other animals who communicate concisely are more likely to be successful in tasks such as mating, a skill passed down to offspring.
Reference: Livio Favaro et al. Do penguins' vocal sequences conform to linguistic laws ?, Biology Letters (2020). DOI: 10.1098 / rsbl.2019.0589
