• Question: what are vocal cords? how many vocal cords do we have and elephants and humpback whales

    Asked by bubbles to Aimee, Gemma, Hussain, Robert, Ross on 15 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Hussain Jaffery

      Hussain Jaffery answered on 15 Nov 2015:

      Vocal chords are two membrane-like things inside the ‘voice-box’, or the larynx, which open and close into a slit-like shape and vibrate when air is pushed through them from the lungs. Vocal chords are essential for providing background vowel sounds when speaking.

      Humans have two vocal chords, and so do elephants! Humpback whales don’t have a larynx nor any vocal chords. Whales are believed to use their sinuses – or glands in their head with air trapped in them to make sounds.

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