The barks, yacks and wa-hoos of the Guinea baboons reveal distinct human-like vowel sounds, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal Plos One by scientists from six universities in France and Alabama.
These are the wildlife populations in danger of becoming extinct, if drastic conservation measures are not taken
The authors, led by Dr. Louis-Jean Boe of Grenoble Alpes University, studied the acoustics of 1,335 baboon sounds and the animals’ tongue anatomy.
They cast doubt on theories that language developed only after the appearance of humanoids with a low larynx. Instead, they say their research suggests that the human vocal system developed from abilities already present in ancestors such as the Guinea baboon.
They also found similar muscles in baboon tongues as human tongues – which are key to our ability to make vowel sounds.
“Language is a key difference between humans and the rest of the natural world, but the origin of our speech remains one of the greatest mysteries of science,” the scientists wrote.
“The evidence developed in this study does not support the hypothesis of the recent, sudden, and simultaneous appearance of language and speech in modern Homo sapiens,” the study says. “It suggests that spoken languages evolved from ancient articulatory skills already present in our last common ancestor… about 25 million years ago.”
The authors say the findings “reveal a loose parallel between human vowels” and baboon vocalizations produced in such communications as sounding alarm or calling to copulate.
A similar study on monkeys published last year also identified five vowels suggesting a link to the origins of human language.
Professor Scott Moisik of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands, who was not involved in the new study, said its findings fit with other research – and his own experience listening to primates in zoos and online animal videos.
“When I hear a cat on YouTube produce a vocalization that very much sounds like ‘oh long Johnson,’ or the ‘no no no’ cat, or a dog that gets pretty-darned close in imitating ‘I love you’… I am led to believe that, to use the words of Boe and company, ‘speech precursors’ (however rudimentary or limited) go back further than 25 million years ago,” he said in an email to The Associated Press.
He and colleague Dan Dediu noted that vowels are just part of the equation – and called for more research on tougher-to-make consonants.

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People with a highly active amygdala — a region of the brain involved in stress processing — also have a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, the researchers revealed.
A hard-working amygdala was also linked to increased bone marrow activity and inflammation of the arteries, which may explain the higher heart disease and stroke risk, the team said.
The data suggested that stressed amygdala may send signals to the bone marrow to produce extra white blood cells, which may in turn cause arteries to narrow and become inflamed, causing cardiovascular problems.
The potential link « raises the possibility that reducing stress could produce benefits that extend beyond an improved sense of psychological wellbeing, » said lead author Ahmed Tawakol of the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Published in The Lancet medical journal, the study entailed PET and CT scans of the brain, bone marrow and spleen activity, as well as artery inflammation, of 293 patients.
The group was surveyed for 3.7 years on average, during which time 22 suffered « cardiovascular events » — including heart attack, heart failure, stroke and narrowing of arteries, said the study.
« Those with higher amygdala activity had a greater risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease and developed problems sooner than those with lower activity, » said the researchers.
In a sub-study, 13 patients with a history of post-traumatic stress disorder were tested separately.
« Those who reported the highest levels of stress had the highest levels of amygdala activity along with more signs of inflammation in their blood and the walls of their arteries, » the team found.
The amygdala are almond-shaped neuron clusters deep in the brain thought to regulate emotion, fear, anxiety, pleasure and stress.
Commenting on the study, Ilze Bot of Leiden University in the Netherlands said the data identified chronic stress « as a true risk factor » for cardiovascular diseases.
Given the increasing number of people suffering from job or social stress, doctors may have to include it when they assess an individual’s risk for cardiovascular disease, she said.
A 2014 study said chronic stress may trigger an overproduction of white blood cells which clump together on artery walls, restricting blood flow and encouraging clot-formation, to raise heart attack and stroke risk.

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A pair of California lawmakers introduced bills Wednesday in hopes it will combat the wave of fake news that trickled to the forefront of the 2016 presidential election.
Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez wants high schools to teach students how to spot the different between real news from fake.
Gomez, a Los Angeles Democrat, said students should learn reasoning skills to assess what they read online.
« Recently, we have seen the corrupting effects of a deliberate propaganda campaign driven by fake news, » Gomez said in a statement. « When fake news is repeated, it becomes difficult for the public to discern what’s real. These attempts to mislead readers pose a direct threat to our democracy.  »
AB155 would commission new curriculum standards that include strategies for identifying false reports.
According to the Los Angeles Times , state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, proposed a separate bill to piggyback off of Gomez’s fight against fake news. Dodd’s bill proposes that requires the state education board to start a “media literacy” curriculum.
Dodd called the rise of fake news “deeply concerning” and added that it’s also concerning people can’t distinguish between what’s fact and what’s fiction.
The problem of false reports masquerading as news emerged as a major issue of the 2016 election. Many such reports were shared widely on social media during the campaign.
Gomez insists fake news poses « a direct threat to our democracy.  »
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click for more from the Los Angeles Times.

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HONG KONG — Rex W. Tillerson ’s call for China to be denied access to its artificial islands in the South China Sea, made Wednesday during his confirmation hearing for secretary of state, set the stage for a possible crisis between the world’s two biggest economies should his comments become official American policy.
Mr. Tillerson told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that China’s multibillion-dollar island-building campaign in the oil -and-gas rich sea was illegal and “akin to Russia’s taking of Crimea.”
“We’re going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops,” Mr. Tillerson told the senators. “And second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed.”
Should those words be translated into action after Donald J. Trump assumes the presidency on Jan. 20, it would be a remarkable change in the American approach to Beijing’s island-building in the South China Sea, which is transforming the area into what one Washington think tank said would by 2030 become “ virtually a Chinese lake .” China asserts sovereignty over most of the South China Sea despite competing claims by countries including Vietnam and the Philippines and an international ruling rejecting most of Beijing’s assertions.
The Obama administration has challenged what it calls China’s “excessive maritime claims” in the sea by sailing warships close to the artificial islands, some of which feature deep harbors and runways capable of handling jumbo jets. But that has not stopped China from continuing its buildup, which now includes military installations such as radar stations on more than 3,000 acres of artificial land built on reefs and shoals.
Mr. Tillerson’s comments, with the possible implication that the United States might use its armed forces to deny the Chinese access to the islands, garnered reactions including confusion, disbelief and warlike threats from analysts in China.
“This is a signal, now that Trump is set to take office, that he wants to have a tough stand on China,” said Yang Chengjun, a retired senior colonel and military expert, who said that China’s potential war-fighting capability was greater than America’s. “China does not stir up troubles but we are not afraid of them when they come.”
Lu Kang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, declined to answer a reporter’s question about what Beijing might do if the United States Navy moved to deny China access to the islands, saying it was a “hypothetical question.”
But his reaction also highlighted the confusion sown by the testimony, because Mr. Tillerson did not explain how the United States could block China from the islands.
“I can’t predict what Mr. Tillerson is thinking specifically, and on the other hand, it is impossible for me to make any prediction about China’s policy, based on your assumptions of what he said,” Mr. Lu said.
That confusion was shared by one of China’s most prominent experts on the South China Sea, who also questioned the legality of any American effort to block access to the islands.
“Is this a warning? Or will this be a policy option?” said Zhu Feng, executive director of the China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea at Nanjing University. “If this is a policy option, this will not be able to block China’s access to these constructed islands. There is no legal basis.”
Mr. Trump’s transition team did not respond to emailed questions asking for details on Mr. Tillerson’s remarks, and whether they represented the intended policy of the United States after Mr. Trump assumes the presidency.
What is also not clear is the extent to which Mr. Tillerson’s tough stance on the South China Sea springs from his extensive experience in the region during his time as chief executive of Exxon Mobil, when his company became embroiled in bitter territorial disputes over the extensive oil and gas reserves beneath the seafloor.
During his tenure, the company forged close ties to the Vietnamese government, signing an agreement in 2009 with a state-owned firm to drill for oil and gas in two areas in the South China Sea. The agreement with PetroVietnam was signed quietly, according to a leaked United States diplomatic cable, because it conflicted with Chinese territorial claims.
While Exxon Mobil has some operations in China, including a stake in a petrochemical plant in the country’s south, it has a very small presence in the country’s huge retail market for gasoline, which is dominated by state-owned Chinese companies. In contrast, its agreements with Vietnam are potentially huge, given that the South China Sea may contain 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the United States Energy Information Administration.
A spokeswoman for Exxon Mobil in Singapore did not return a phone call asking for comment about the company’s operations in Vietnam. The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry did not reply to a request for comment about Mr. Tillerson’s remarks.
But his statements have put further strains on one of the world’s most important bilateral relationships. Policy directions set by President Richard M. Nixon more than 40 years ago have remained relatively steady under the Republican and Democratic administrations that followed. But Mr. Trump’s talk of enacting new tariffs on Chinese goods and his willingness to break decades of protocol by taking a phone call from Taiwan’s president have called those policies into question.
“How much farther will the Trump administration go?” said Mr. Zhu of Nanjing University. “When it comes to South China Sea , we’ll have to wait and see.”

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