Gibbons in Asia have regional accents scientists say can identify the exact species of gibbon singing and where they are from.

Crested gibbons living in the rainforests of China, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam use songs to communicate with other gibbons to bond with mates and define territory, songs specifically adapted to travel long distances by concentrating all of the energy into a single frequency, similar to the calls used by rainforest birds, LiveScience.com reported Monday.

Researchers analyzing the singing of more than 400 gibbons from 92 groups in 24 different locations found each group of gibbons had their own slightly different way of singing, which varied by area and could be used to pinpoint a gibbon to a species and a location.

"Each gibbon has its own variable song but, much like people, there is a regional similarity between gibbons within the same location," lead researcher Van Ngoc Thinh from the Primate Genetics Laboratory at the German Primate Center said.

The subtly different songs changed with genetic diversity, so those species most closely related had the most similar accents, the researchers said.

Being able to identify a gibbon by song could provide better monitoring of their populations, scientists say, since it is often difficult to obtain genetic samples from the animals and their coloration often varies within a species.