scholarly journals Convergence and divergence in Diana monkey vocalizations

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 382-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnès Candiotti ◽  
Klaus Zuberbühler ◽  
Alban Lemasson
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Spatial Proximity ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Vocal Convergence ◽  
External Context ◽  
Cercopithecus Diana ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Convergence And Divergence ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Diana Monkey

Individually distinct vocalizations are widespread among social animals, presumably caused by variation in vocal tract anatomy. A less-explored source of individual variation is due to learned movement patterns of the vocal tract, which can lead to vocal convergence or divergence in social groups. We studied patterns of acoustic similarity in a social call produced by 14 female Diana monkeys ( Cercopithecus diana ) in two free-ranging groups. Calls showed variability in fundamental frequency contours owing to individual identity and external context. Vocal divergence increased significantly between females during poor visibility and tended to increase in the presence of neighbours. In contrast, vocal convergence increased significantly between females during vocal interactions, because females matched the frequency contour of their own call with another female's preceding call. Our findings demonstrate that these primates have some control over the acoustic fine structure of their most important social vocalization. Vocal convergence and divergence are two opposing processes that enable callers to ensure spatial proximity and social cohesion with other group members.

scholarly journals Social familiarity affects Diana monkey ( Cercopithecus diana diana ) alarm call responses in habitat-specific ways

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 150639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Stephan ◽  
Klaus Zuberbühler
Keyword(s):  
Alarm Call ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Adaptive Function ◽  
Vocal Behaviour ◽  
Social Familiarity ◽  
Cercopithecus Diana ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Two Populations ◽  
Diana Monkey

Male Diana monkeys produce loud and acoustically distinct alarm calls to leopards and eagles that propagate over long distances, much beyond the immediate group. Calling is often contagious, with neighbouring males responding to each other’s calls, indicating that harem males communicate both to local group members and distant competitors. Here, we tested whether male Diana monkeys responding to each other’s alarm calls discriminated familiar from unfamiliar callers in two populations in Taï Forest (Ivory Coast) and on Tiwai Island (Sierra Leone). At both sites, we found specific acoustic markers in male alarm call responses that discriminated familiar from unfamiliar callers, but response patterns were site-specific. On Tiwai Island, males responded to familiar males’ eagle alarms with ‘standard’ eagle alarm calls, whereas unfamiliar males triggered acoustically atypical eagle alarms. The opposite was found in Taï Forest where males responded to unfamiliar males’ eagle alarm calls with ‘standard’ eagle alarms, and with atypical eagle alarms to familiar males’ calls. Moreover, only Taï, but not Tiwai, males also marked familiarity with the caller in their leopard-induced alarms. We concluded that male Diana monkeys encode not only predator type but also signaller familiarity in their alarm calls, although in population-specific ways. We explain these inter-site differences in vocal behaviour in terms of differences in predation pressure and population density. We discuss the adaptive function and implications of this behaviour for the origins of acoustic flexibility in primate communication.

scholarly journals Tibetan Macaques with Higher Social Centrality and More Relatives Emit More Frequent Visual Communication in Collective Decision-Making

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 876
Author(s):  
Zifei Tang ◽  
Xi Wang ◽  
Mingyang Wu ◽  
Shiwang Chen ◽  
Jinhua Li
Keyword(s):  
Visual Communication ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Tobit Regression ◽  
Communication Behaviors ◽  
Group Cooperation ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Group Sex ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Social Centrality

Animals on the move often communicate with each other through some specific postures. Previous studies have shown that social interaction plays a role in communication process. However, it is not clear whether the affinity of group members can affect visual communication. We studied a group of free-ranging Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Huangshan Mountain, China, and answered whether and how social centrality or relatives matter in visual signals during group movement using Tobit regression modeling. All individuals emitted the signals of back-glances and pauses in collective movement. The emission of two signals decreased with the number of participants increased. The back-glance and pause signals emitted by the participating individuals were stronger as the position moved backward in the group. Sex, age, and rank had no significant influence on back-glance and pause signals. Individuals with higher social centrality would emit more pause signals, but social centrality had no effect on the back-glance signal. Individuals with more relatives in the group had more back-glance signals, but this had no effect on the pause signal. This study verifies that social centrality and the number of relatives have effects on visual signals in Tibetan macaques. We provide insights into the relationship between communication behaviors and group cooperation in social animals.

Individual differences in response to sibling birth among free-ranging yearling rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) on Cayo Santiago

Behaviour ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 140 (7) ◽  
pp. 899-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Macaca Mulatta ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Maternal Aggression ◽  
Cayo Santiago ◽  
Focal Animal ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Free Ranging

AbstractThe birth of a younger sibling is a normal event in the life of a nonhuman primate, yet commonly it is thought to be a stressful transition for the older sibling. In our previous research, we found that yearling rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) experienced increases in one mild form of distress but no significant increases in overt forms of distress, in spite of significant reductions in mother-yearling interaction. Nevertheless, some individual yearlings were distressed by this transition and here we examine variables that may structure individual differences in distress. We observed 31 yearling rhesus monkeys on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico, during the month before and month after their siblings' births using focal animal sampling methods. Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969), parent-offspring conflict theory (Trivers, 1974), and dynamic assessment models (Bateson, 1994) all predict a relationship between reduction in maternal care and increase in offspring distress, yet no previous study of sibling birth in primates has examined this relationship. We found that the reduction in the proportion of time on the nipple from the month before sibling birth to the month after was related to the rate of geckering (a distress vocalization) after sibling birth, and that the increase in time out of sight of the mother was related to the proportion of time yearlings spent in a tense state after sibling birth. Maternal aggression after sibling birth also was related to the yearlings' rate of geckering. Yearling distress was related to qualities of the mother-yearling relationship, in that yearlings that had relatively greater responsibility for maintaining proximity with their mothers before sibling birth were relatively more tense afterwards. Yearlings displayed increases in play, grooming, and contact with group members other than the mother after sibling birth, suggesting a marked shift toward greater maturity in their social relationships.

scholarly journals Vocal convergence in a multi-level primate society: insights into the evolution of vocal learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1941) ◽  
pp. 20202531
Author(s):  
Julia Fischer ◽  
Franziska Wegdell ◽  
Franziska Trede ◽  
Federica Dal Pesco ◽  
Kurt Hammerschmidt
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Speech Acquisition ◽  
Human Speech ◽  
Vocal Behaviour ◽  
Vocal Convergence ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Papio Papio

The extent to which nonhuman primate vocalizations are amenable to modification through experience is relevant for understanding the substrate from which human speech evolved. We examined the vocal behaviour of Guinea baboons, Papio papio , ranging in the Niokolo Koba National Park in Senegal. Guinea baboons live in a multi-level society, with units nested within parties nested within gangs. We investigated whether the acoustic structure of grunts of 27 male baboons of two gangs varied with party/gang membership and genetic relatedness. Males in this species are philopatric, resulting in increased male relatedness within gangs and parties. Grunts of males that were members of the same social levels were more similar than those of males in different social levels ( N = 351 dyads for comparison within and between gangs, and N = 169 dyads within and between parties), but the effect sizes were small. Yet, acoustic similarity did not correlate with genetic relatedness, suggesting that higher amounts of social interactions rather than genetic relatedness promote the observed vocal convergence. We consider this convergence a result of sensory–motor integration and suggest this to be an implicit form of vocal learning shared with humans, in contrast to the goal-directed and intentional explicit form of vocal learning unique to human speech acquisition.

scholarly journals Neutering Effects on Social Behaviour of Urban Unowned Free-Roaming Domestic Cats

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Cafazzo ◽  
Roberto Bonanni ◽  
Eugenia Natoli
Keyword(s):  
General Level ◽  
Territorial Behaviour ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Domestic Cats ◽  
Obvious Effect ◽  
Focal Animal ◽  
The Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Marking Behaviour ◽  
Free Ranging

The “trap, spay/neuter, and release” programs to manage unowned free-roaming cat populations are diffused worldwide and they are largely advised even in countries where the suppression of unowned cats is enforced by law. Despite the massive neutering campaigns in the world, there is little information on the influence of neutering on individual cat behaviour, as well as on the social structure of cat colonies. The aim of this study is to verify such effects. Before neutering, the group consisted of 17 free-roaming domestic cats, who were totally unrestrained. After neutering it consisted of 16 individuals. Data on the outcomes of aggressive, submissive, affiliative, and territorial behaviour were collected, using classic ethological methods (“focal animal”, “all occurrences”, and “1/0” sampling methods) (735 h of observation before and 537 h after neutering). The dominance hierarchy did not change after neutering. On the other hand, the frequency of aggressive, territorial behaviour as well as proximity among individuals decreased significantly. Affiliative behaviour has been observed among neutered adult males that never performed it before neutering. The results of this study suggest that, after neutering: (i) The group of free-ranging cats was stable over time; (ii) the hierarchical structure of the cat social group did not change; (iii) the general level of activity, decreased; (iv) urine spraying marking behaviour almost disappeared; (v) the level of social proximity among group members decreased, although it tended to increase in some male–male dyads. The most obvious effect of neutering, detected on individual behaviour, was that cats were less active.

Comparison of vocalisations of introduced European red deer stags (Cervus elaphus) in north-western Patagonia (Argentina) with native European populations

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 714 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Hurtado ◽  
J. M. Smith-Flueck ◽  
P. Black-Decima
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Cervus Elaphus ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Acoustical Properties ◽  
Andean Cordillera ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Acoustic Study ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
European Populations

Polygynous deer are very vocal species, producing calls in various contexts. Male rutting calls in red deer (Cervus elaphus) have been most studied in captive and/or free-ranging European populations. The recent application of ‘source-filter theory’ has identified the independent roles of fundamental frequency (F0) and formants in the production of deer calls and demonstrated the relation between formant spacing and anatomical characteristics such as body size. The present paper describes and characterises the acoustical properties of male rutting vocalisations for a free-ranging red deer population located in the ecotone of the eastern Andean cordillera within the Nahuel Huapi National Reserve (Neuquén, Argentina), and is the first acoustic study of free-ranging red deer stags outside their historic distribution. Recordings were made of seven identified and several unidentified stags at the peak of the rut in 2007. Calculated F0 was found to be higher for these identified stags than for Scottish red deer on the island of Rhum. The analysis of formant spacing was used to calculate the length of the vocal tract (VTL) for the seven males studied; values were comparable to those found in stags from Rhum. The longest calculated VTLs within these males corresponded to those of the four stags with the largest antler racks and the only stags holding harems. Previous studies have shown that VTL correlates with body size, age and reproductive success and that these deer have the ability to lower their larynx and extend their vocal tracts to a maximum, which is probably under sexual selection. Our data fit with this explanation. The higher F0s recorded in this population may result from the influence of wapiti genes, known to be present in these deer, because wapiti have a much higher-frequency rutting call, namely, the bugle. Alternatively, they may be related to the mating strategy, which differs substantially from the northern European populations.

Collective behaviour of wild Asian elephants in risky situations: how do social groups cross roads?

Behaviour ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 154 (12) ◽  
pp. 1215-1237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaori Mizuno ◽  
Nachiketha Sharma ◽  
Gen’ichi Idani ◽  
Raman Sukumar
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Age Classes ◽  
Asian Elephants ◽  
The Road ◽  
Traffic Characteristics ◽  
Group Members ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Road Crossing

Among group-living animals, some members may derive benefit by following the decisions of other members. Free-ranging wild Asian elephants in Mudumalai National Park, southern India, must often cross roads and can be disturbed by vehicles. We assessed if measures of road and traffic characteristics serve as indicators of risk, and compared behaviours of different age classes during road-crossing events. More individuals displayed excitable behaviour on wider roads. A larger number of adults entered the road first, which is considered the most dangerous position, compared with immature elephants. Immature individuals tended to move ahead of others on the road, suggesting that it is more important for immature individuals to follow adults at the beginning of a crossing than to follow along for the entire crossing. These findings may suggest that less experienced group members derive benefit by following the decisions of experienced ones under risky situations.

scholarly journals Sick Bats Stay Home Alone: Social distancing during the acute phase response in Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsey R. Moreno ◽  
Maya Weinberg ◽  
Lee Harten ◽  
Valeria B. Salinas Ramos ◽  
L. Gerardo Herrera M. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Fruit Bats ◽  
Fruit Bat ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sickness Behaviors ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Contact Free ◽  
Free Ranging

AbstractAlong with its many advantages, social roosting imposes a major risk of pathogen transmission. How social animals, and especially free-ranging mammals, reduce this risk is poorly documented. We used lipopolysaccharide injection to imitate bacterial sickness in both a captive and a free-ranging colony of an extremely social, long lived mammal – the Egyptian fruit bat. We monitored behavioral and physiological responses using an arsenal of methods, including on-board GPS and acceleration, video, temperature and weight measurements, and blood samples. Sick-like bats exhibited an increased immune response, as well as classical illness symptoms including fever, weight loss, anorexia, and lethargy. Notably, they also isolated themselves from the group by leaving the social cluster and avoiding contact. Free-ranging individuals ceased foraging outdoors for at least two nights. Together, these sickness behaviors demonstrate a strong, integrative immune response which promotes recovery of infected individuals while protecting their group members from transmission of pathogens, and at the same time, reducing spillover events outside the roost.

Visitor-associated variation in captive Diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana diana) behaviour

2007 ◽  
Vol 107 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 162-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A. Todd ◽  
Charlotte Macdonald ◽  
Dorcas Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Cercopithecus Diana ◽  
Diana Monkey

scholarly journals Familiarity affects the assessment of female facial signals of fertility by free-ranging male rhesus macaques

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1723) ◽  
pp. 3452-3458 ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Higham ◽  
Kelly D. Hughes ◽  
Lauren J. N. Brent ◽  
Constance Dubuc ◽  
Antje Engelhardt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Reproductive Status ◽  
Signal Discrimination ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Faecal Hormone Analysis ◽  
Hormone Analysis ◽  
Male Rhesus

Animals signal their reproductive status in a range of sensory modalities. Highly social animals, such as primates, have access not only to such signals, but also to prior experience of other group members. Whether this experience affects how animals interpret reproductive signals is unknown. Here, we explore whether familiarity with a specific female affects a male's ability to assess that female's reproductive signals. We used a preferential looking procedure to assess signal discrimination in free-ranging rhesus macaques, a species in which female facial luminance covaries with reproductive status. We collected images of female faces throughout the reproductive cycle, and using faecal hormone analysis to determine ovulation, categorized images as coming from a female's pre-fertile, ovulating, or post-fertile period. We printed colour-calibrated stimuli of these faces, reproducing stimuli perceptually the same in colour and luminance to the original appearance of females. These images were presented to males who were either unfamiliar or familiar with stimuli females. Overall, males distinguished ovulatory from pre-ovulatory faces. However, a significant proportion of males did so only among males familiar with stimuli females. These experiments demonstrate that familiarity may increase a receiver's ability to use a social partner's signals to discern their reproductive status.

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