Scientists from the Primate Research Institute at Japan’s Kyoto University reported that they had given helium gas to apes (gibbons), which, predictably, made their voices high-pitched.
However, it was not a fraternity prank or lab assistant’s initiation, but a way for the scientists to determine whether the famously sonorous gibbons could yell just as loudly at a higher-than-natural pitch.
The gibbons succeeded, showing a rare talent similar to that of the world’s greatest human sopranos, who maintain their booming amplitude by altering the shape of their vocal tract, including their mouth and tongue.
