Orangutans can disguise their voices to deter predators

A new study has revealed that orangutans can change their voices to scare predators away.

The findings, published in The Journal of Experimental Biology, reveal that orangutans can use their hands to change the pitch of their calls.

Researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium found that when orangutans detected nearby humans, they covered their mouths to make a "kissing squeak." It's not to attract mates, though — the kissing noises prove that the orangutans are changing their tone when predators are close by.

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The scientists discovered that the orangutans used their hands to lower the pitch of their sound, making it deeper. The deeper sound, Discovery News notes, matches the sound of a larger primate, which would intimidate predators.