"Death metal fans might just have a new animal mascot.
Some bats use the same vocal structures as death metal singers to make their unique vocalizations, a new study has found.
Researchers at the University of Southern Denmark investigated the noise-making techniques of Daubenton’s bat, a small species of the winged mammal found across Europe and Asia. The study,
published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Biology, focuses on the different structures of the larynx — also known as the voice box — that bats use to expand their vocal range."
“We identified for the first time what physical structures within the larynx oscillate to make their different vocalizations. For example, bats can make low frequency calls, using their so called ‘false vocal folds’ — like human death metal singers do,” said Coen Elemans, the lead study author and a professor of biology at the University of Southern Denmark,
in a news release.
"Ventricular folds, or false vocal folds, are located on top of the true vocal cords. Historically, these folds were thought to have no role in normal human speech — hence the term “false.”
Low-frequency growls
"But studies have revealed that these folds are crucial for a few unique forms of vocalization, like the
distinctive 'growling' death metal singers use or the throat singing from vocalists in Mongolia and Siberia."
The folds are likely also the source of bats’ low-frequency growls, the researchers found. They didn’t directly observe the vocal cords vibrating or oscillating. However, the researchers wrote, 'We venture to speculate that in bats, the ventricular folds have taken on the role of lower frequency vibrations.'
Scientists still don’t know what exactly the bats are communicating when they use their death metal growls. 'Some seem aggressive, some may be an expression of annoyance, and some may have a very different function,' said study coauthor and University of Southern Denmark biologist Lasse Jakobsen in the news release."
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/29/world/bats-death-metal-growls-scn-trnd/index.html