Primate calls and the evolution of singing and music

Loud calls share ancestral sound patterns and functions, and probably occur in all Old World monkeys and apes. They also occur in some New World monkeys and wet-nosed primates, and probably occurred in the last common ancestor of all living primates. Singing and duetting occurs in two groups of the apes: Gibbons (Hylobtidae) and humans (Homo). A phylogenetic study suggests that singing developed twice independently in apes (i.e. in gibbons and humans), but in each case derived from loud calls. Furthermore, the study allows to reconstruct the original contexts and functions of human singing, dancing and, ultimately, music.