Remember the song “I Like to Move It, Move It” from the animated film Madagascar, performed by the lemurs? It turns out their knack for singing in rhythm is no mere fantasy.
An international team of researchers studied the rhythmic compositions of Madagascar’s native indri lemurs. Scientists from the University of Warwick (UK) and the University of Turin (Italy) concluded that, alongside humans and gibbons, indris are the only mammals that show sensitivity to musical rhythm. According to the new study, the songs and communication among indris shed light on how the human ability to create rhythmic music evolved.
What researchers discovered about indris, known in Madagascar’s tropical forests as singing lemurs, is fascinating. They live in small family groups and communicate through songs, much like humans and birds. Lemurs, in particular, use rhythmic sounds as alarm signals to warn family members of danger. Most importantly, the sounds produced by indris exhibit consistent time intervals, indicating a rhythm or beat characteristic of human music.
During a 15-year study, scientists recorded the songs and alarm calls of indris across various forest areas in Madagascar. Dr. Chiara De Gregorio, the lead author of the study, said the team analyzed the notes and intervals in 820 songs from 51 lemurs. The analysis of the recordings revealed rhythm in all compositions. This rhythm is a key aspect of indri communication, the Daily Mail reported.
This discovery places indris among the animals with vocal rhythms most similar to those of humans. In this regard, lemurs surpass songbirds and other mammals, Dr. De Gregorio added. Co-author Daria Valente said, “The results highlight the evolutionary roots of musical rhythm, demonstrating that the fundamental elements of human music can be traced back to early primate communication systems.” The findings were published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
