# s-brain: 'silent' macaques

<< the evolution of human speech capabilities required neural changes rather than modifications of vocal anatomy. Macaques have a speech-ready vocal tract but lack a speech-ready brain to control it >>

Macaque monkeys have the anatomy for human speech, so why can’t they speak? Dec. 14, 2016

http://www.kurzweilai.net/macaque-monkeys-have-the-anatomy-for-human-speech-so-why-cant-they-speak

W. Tecumseh Fitch, Bart de Boer, Neil Mathur and Asif A. Ghazanfar. Monkey vocal tracts are speech-ready. Science Advances.  09 Dec 2016: Vol. 2, no. 12, e1600723
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600723

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/12/e1600723