Machine learning reveals adaptive maternal responses to infant distress calls in wild chimpanzees

Distress calls are an acoustically variable group of vocalizations ubiquitous in mammals and other animals. Their presumed function is to recruit help, but it is uncertain whether this is mediated by listeners extracting the nature of the disturbance from calls. To address this, we used machine learning to analyse distress calls produced by wild infant chimpanzees. It enabled us to classify calls and examine them in relation to the external event triggering them and the distance to the intended receiver, the mother. In further steps, we tested whether the acoustic variants produced by infants predicted maternal responses. Our results demonstrated that, although infant chimpanzee distress calls were highly graded, they conveyed information about discrete events, which in turn guided maternal parenting decisions. We discuss these findings in light of one the most vexing problems in communication theory, the evolution of vocal flexibility in the human lineage.

The Cutopia Paradox: Anthropomorphism as Entertainment // La paradoja de la utopía de lo adorable: Antropomorfismo como entretenimiento

An infant chimpanzee, dressed in riotous checks, bowtie and braces, cradled in human arms while it regards a camera, is perhaps further from us than a tiger lurking in the deepest jungle. Anthropomorphic sentiment negates empathy, blinding us to the real animal behind the “character.” The engaging creature we imagine we’d like to hold and protect is the product, most likely, of violent separation and trauma, stolen in order to bring us this enjoyment. We read the comical face, celebrating what appear to be traces of commonality; but the eyes of the small creature are windows to a realm we cannot comprehend. By following the life of a single chimpanzee, Cobby, the oldest chimp in captivity in the USA, this paper will explore our attraction to cuteness via the lens of chimpanzees in entertainment, regarding it as an intersection of emotion and metaphor that is potentially devastating to animals. We will argue that anthropomorphic sentiment and construction misdirects empathy away from the plight of real animals, and that every animal has the right to be acknowledged as a unique individual, rather than a generic entity. Animals that have been born in captivity and, to a lesser extent, those that have been extracted from the wild in infancy, can be seen as trapped between worlds. There exists, therefore, a hybrid population of animals that lives amongst us, amnesiacs dependent upon human compassion, or conversely, prey to its absence. Resumen Una cría de chimpancé, vestida a cuadros alborotados, pajarita y tirantes, acunada en brazos humanos mientras que mira una cámara, está tal vez más lejos de nosotros que un tigre que acecha en la selva más profunda. El sentimiento antropomórfico niega la empatía, nos ciega ante el animal real detrás del “personaje”. La criatura atractiva que imaginamos que nos gustaría guardar y proteger es el producto, probablemente, de la separación violenta y del trauma, robada para traernos este disfrute. Leemos la cara cómica, celebrando lo que parecen ser rastros de similitud; pero los ojos de la pequeña criatura son ventanas a un reino que no podemos comprender. Siguiendo la vida de un único chimpancé, Cobby, el chimpancé más viejo en cautividad en los Estados Unidos, este trabajo explora nuestra atracción hacia la ternura a través de la lente de los chimpancés en el entretenimiento, considerándola como una intersección de emoción y metáfora que es potencialmente devastadora para los animales. Sostenemos que la construcción y el sentimiento antropomórficos dirigen mal la empatía de la difícil situación de animales reales, y que cada animal tiene derecho a ser reconocido como un individuo único, en lugar de una entidad genérica. Los animales que han nacido en cautividad y, en menor medida, aquellos que han sido extraídos de la naturaleza durante la infancia, pueden apreciarse como atrapados entre mundos. Por lo tanto, existe una población híbrida de animales que viven entre nosotros, amnésicos dependientes de la compasión humana, o por el contrario, víctimas de su ausencia.