First, I hate the word blog.

But more importantly, researchers have discovered that spider monkeys combine & recombine 14 elements of sound to make unique & recognizable calls to each other, varying in pitch, not unlike how we use vowels & consonants to form words in human language. Their ability to reorganize these 14 sounds is also evidence of their sharp creativity— they rarely seem to repeat others in a conversation. With just 14 elements of sound, they express their emotions, are able to communicate how far away or near they are, if they want something, & what’s happening in front of them. In a similar way, this blog will serve as a sort of net, holding sounds & words, all combined & recombined, in the hopes of some form of communication.

(*Spider monkey facts from Carlos Fioravanti, Pesquisa FAPESP, “Monkeys that almost speak,” February 2004)