The indri, a critically endangered lemur only found in Madagascar‘s rainforest, might hold clues about the human knack for musicality, a Mongabay video explains.
Indris (Indri indri) are one of the largest living lemurs, and among the few primates that sing. Researchers studied 15 years’ worth of recorded indri songs, and found that these songs have rhythm, just like human music.
In fact, lemur songs seem to have at least two main rhythm patterns similar to many human songs. The first is the 1:1 pattern, such as in the dance club song “I like to move it,” which was used in the animated film Madagascar to introduce a ring-tailed lemur character named King Julien. The second is the 1:2 pattern, such as in the song “We will rock you” by the rock band Queen.
Indris don’t just sing solo, but also in duets and in choirs, the researchers reported in a study published last year.
Chiara De Gregorio, one of the study’s authors, explains in the video that indris sing for different reasons. They produce so-called advertisement songs when their family wakes up in the morning. They also sing “cohesion songs” to find each other as they move around the forest. Lastly, they have “territorial songs,” which they sing when they encounter another family group, resulting in a “vocal battle.”
The Mongabay video explains that the study may contribute to a Darwinian theory called “musical protolanguage hypothesis,” which suggests that music and language may have originated from a prelinguistic communication system. However, it’s unclear if the indri rhythmic songs came before human music or if the two evolved independently.
For now, De Gregorio says, “These findings are a good reminder of how we are animals ourselves, and we live in a world that is very important to preserve.”
Fewer than 10,000 indris are left in the wild, and their population continues to decline due to habitat destruction and hunting.
This article by Kristinesabillo was first published by Mongabay.com on 11 February 2025. Lead Image: An indri by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
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