Hmong Whistles Travel Eight Kilometers

In the foothills of the Himalayas, Hmong farmers use whistles to communicate across fields while hunters call to one another through forests. Whistled languages can travel as far as 8 kilometers in open conditions. During a now-rare courtship tradition, boys walk through villages at night whistling poems between houses, and interested girls answer them. Couples can then create private codes by adding nonsense syllables that confuse eavesdroppers and protect their identities.

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