Orangutan vocabularies ‘shaped by social mingling, like in humans’

Researchers lived alongside orangutan communities, recording the calls of around 70 individual apes across six populations

Orangutan vocabularies ‘shaped by social mingling, like in humans’ (Yui Mok/PA)

The vocabularies of orangutans may be shaped by their social groups – just like in humans, according to a new study.

Researchers found the wild animals have distinct vocal personalities that are created depending on the social groups in which they live and communicate, instead of a fixed range of sounds as traditionally presumed.