The elephant in the room: Elephant vocal folds may hold clues to human sound production
Up until a year ago, how an elephant made its guttural infrasonic calls was still a matter of debate, as Christian Herbst, from the University of Vienna, Austria, points out: 'Some people suggested it's just like in us humans, so a passive, flow-induced vibration of the tissue in the larynx, and others suggested it's like purring in cats [requiring neural control].' Unfortunately, unlike in humans, it's a little difficult to slide an endoscope down an elephant's vocal tract to see what's happening. However, in 2010 an opportunity to settle the mystery arose, when an African elephant sadly passed away at Berlin Tierpark zoo. A collaborator based in Berlin quickly seized the opportunity and collected the larynx from the elephant on behalf of Herbst and Angela Stoeger, also from the University of Vienna. Back in Austria, Herbst and Stoeger were then able to reproduce elephant-like sounds by simply blowing air through...