Baby bat babbling strikingly similar to human baby babbles

The babbling behavior of baby bats bears a striking likeness to babbling in human infants, according to a new study, which represents "the first formal analysis of bat pup babbling," according to its authors. In humans, speech requires precise control over the vocal apparatus, which enables us to make all the sounds necessary for communication. Babbling enables infants and toddlers to practice speech sounds by gaining motor control over the vocal apparatus and making sounds that imitate the vowels (e.g., 'cooing' and 'gooing'), consonants (e.g., 'ba' and 'ga'), and rhythmicity (e.g., 'da'da'da) that define human language. However, humans are not the only vocal learners. Evidence for babbling in nonhuman mammals exists in very few species, one of which is the greater sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx bilineata). While the babbling behavior of these bats has been likened to human infant babbling, babbling behavior in bats lacks formal evaluation. Ahana Fernandez and colleagues investigated the babbling behavior of baby bats by recording the vocalization of 20 bat pups in the wild. They compared these pups' babbling features to those that characterize babbling in human infants. Not only did the authors find clear evidence of babbling behavior, according to the findings, bat pup babbling is strikingly similar to babbling in human infants – characterized by the same eight features, including imitation of canonical syllables and rhythmicity. Fernandez et al. suggest that these shared components may have similar specific mechanisms in other vocal learning mammals. They say their findings open the door for further investigation into the cognitive and macromolecular mechanisms and adaptative functions that underlie babbling behaviors.