Adult humans are the only mammal that can't breathe and swallow at the same time

Unlike every other mammal, adult humans cannot swallow and breathe at the same time. All vertebrates (animals with spines) have only one throat, which travels to both the stomach and the lungs. However, most vertebrates have the ability to both swallow food or drink and breathe air at the same time due to their stomach and lungs being more separate in the throat. Humans have a more compact throat due to the evolutionary need for our voices to be more versatile, which lead to us requiring a valve to only allow either swallowing or breathing at a time.