Scientists at the University of Southern Denmark recently found out that bats use “death metal growls” to communicate with each other
The findings showed that the Daubenton’s bat uses its larynx to make sounds, which is quite similar to the vocal techniques used by death metal vocalists like George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher from CANNIBAL CORPSE or Chris Barnes from SIX FEET UNDER.
“We identified for the first time what physical structures within the larynx oscillate to make their different vocalisations,” says Professor Coen Elemans. “For example, bats can make low frequency calls, using their so called ‘false vocal folds’ – like human death metal singers do.”
While most humans have a vocal range of approximately three octaves, bats have seven, making them all that more brutal with their vocal abilities.
These findings were published in a paper titled “Bats expand their vocal range by recruiting different laryngeal structures for echolocation and social communication” by Jonas Håkansson, Cathrine Mikkelsen, Lasse Jakobsen and Elemans, which states that “in humans, ventricular folds play a role in several low-frequency forms of singing, such as death metal grunting and Tuvan throat singing, where they can touch the vocal fold and increase the mass of the oscillating structures.
“Furthermore, we show that bats extend their lower vocal range by recruiting their ventricular folds – as in death metal growls – that vibrate at distinctly lower frequencies of 1 to 5 kHz for producing agonistic social calls,” they continue.
You can read the full report here.
