After listening to hours of bat pups in the wild, scientists have identified eight characteristics of babbling that are shared by human babies and the greater sac-winged bat. B.G. Thomson/Science Source hide caption
After listening to hours of bat pups in the wild, scientists have identified eight characteristics of babbling that are shared by human babies and the greater sac-winged bat.
A paper published on Thursday in the latest issue of the journal Science finds similarities between the babbling of human infants and the babbling of the greater sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx bilineata) — a small species of bat that lives in Central and South America.
The researchers believe that bats and humans both evolved babbling as a precursor to more complex vocal behavior such as singing, or, in the case of people, talking.