Researchers said that baboons could make five distinct vowel-like sounds like humans. Based on the new research, language started to evolve about 25 million years ago. For years, scientists thought that primates could not speak or produce vowels sounds which are fundamental to human speech.

They believe that nonhumans lacked basic vocal anatomy. However, it was recently found out those Guinea baboons that inhabit the forests and Savanna of West Africa have the possibility to make five vowels like sounds which are similar to those which are spoken by humans.

According to Science Mag, a recent study also shows that Japanese macaques are also capable of expressing such vowels. Over the years, researchers thought that baboons, a type of monkey couldn't produce any sounds because they lacked the right kind of larynx.

However, based on the acoustical analysis of their grunts, barks, 'yaks,' and 'wahoos,' it was found out that they are capable of remarkably human vocalizations.

Furthermore, these primates have shown that the vowel-like sounds [a] and [u] are being used in the two distinct vocalizations. These vocalizations are produced depending on the situation. Baboons can create a sequence of the two vowel sounds with the correct vocalization.

According to Science Daily, the demonstration of the vocalic photosystem with these primates proves that they can produce several vocalizations despite having a high larynx. Monkeys do not produce speech sounds, but the data suggest the evolutionary links between the vocalizations of baboons and human phonological systems.

"Examining the vocalizations through acoustic analyses, tongue anatomy and modeling of acoustic potential, we found that baboons produce sounds sharing the f1/f2 formant [sound frequencies] structure of the human vowels," said Dr. Louis-Jean Boë.

Dr. Louis-Jean Boë and his team have listened to some 1,335 natural vocalizations which were produced by 15 male and female Guinea baboons. He and his team also studied the anatomy of vocal tracks from the two primates after they died of natural causes.