05 Aug 09 King of Swingers blows

New Scientist reports on Orang-u-tans making different sounds using folded leaves..

As wind instruments go, folded vegetation seems a little on the primitive side. Orang-utans have been found to blow through leaves to modulate the sound of their alarm calls, making them the only animal apart from humans known to use tools to manipulate sound.

“It’s a particularly interesting form of tool use, to me, because it gets away from a lot of the typical examples of foraging,” Shumaker adds. “It’s really, really nice to see an example that has absolutely nothing to do with food.”

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17557-orangutans-fashion-only-known-animal-instrument.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news