Singing Madacascar lemurs get better with age - just like humans
Researchers at the University of Warwick has found the signing lemurs of Madagascar sing out of tune as youngsters, and get better as adults
Last updated 3rd Apr 2025
Researchers at the University of Warwick has found the signing lemurs of Madagascar sing out of tune as youngsters, and get better as adults - just like human children.
It's been led by leading primatologist Dr Chiara De Gregorio, who looked into the indris (indri indri).
The new study saw teams from Warwick working with colleagues at the University of Turin looking into the singing patterns of Madagascar's lemurs at different ages and found they experience something very similar in development, hinting at a shared ancestry in vocal control and signing.
Indris sing to defend their territory, communicate with family members, and reinforce social bonds - which is actually unique among their species.
Their songs are made up of long, melodic notes, but not all of them are perfectly harmonic.
Dr. Chiara De Gregorio, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Warwick, and first author of this study said: “There are multiple theories to explain why some indris produce rough and irregular sounds, including as a form of emotional expression or as a unique tool for communication.
"In this analysis of 62 wild indris and over 16,000 notes, we found that young indris produce many more NLPs compared to their adult counterparts, suggesting that singing in tune is an ability that develops.”
Researchers also found that males sing with more roughness and instability than females.
They say that's potentially due to differences in social roles.
For example, a particular type of irregular sounds called subharmonics persists into adulthood, which potentially makes the singer sound bigger and more intimidating.
Researchers also saw more 'off-key' elements at the end of musical phrases, indicating that the animals get vocally tired—just as human singers might after a long performance.
Dr Daria Valente, University of Turin, and co-first author of the study said: “Our findings go beyond just explaining NLP in the vocalizations of a single species, they shed light on the deeper evolutionary origins of vocal nonlinearities across the animal kingdom.”
You can read the full study here.