Whistling Bonnie Sheds Light on the Origins of Speech

Dr Serge Wich of the Great Ape Trust of Iowa and author of Oryx - The International Journal of Conservation will present his latest findings on orangutan genetics at a scientific symposium on December 18 at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

In a paper published this month in "Primates", Dr Wich and his colleagues document findings that may shed some light on the evolution of speech.  All thanks to a 30 year-old orangutan female named Bonnie, resident at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C.

Bonnie took up whistling after hearing one of her caretakers make the sound.

She was not trained, she just started whistling on her own, thereby proving that non-human primates can learn new sounds and use them voluntarily.

Here is a link to a video of Bonnie and the article from the Great Ape Trust of Iowa.