Yodellers of the world, you never stood a chance: monkeys will always be better at yodelling than humans because they have a “cheap trick” hidden in their voice box, scientists revealed this week.
When monkeys howl – or yodellers yodel – they rapidly switch back and forth between low and high frequency sounds.
This is in contrast to opera singers, who are trained to precisely control how they gradually move from note to note, in a way that is pleasing to listen to.
Yodellers and monkeys, however, make bigger jumps far more abruptly, creating vocal breaks that sound like Tarzan’s yell.
When yodelling, a human might be able to jump an octave, which doubles the frequency.
