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Sobroza TV, Gordo M, Dunn JC, Pequeno PACL, Naissinger BM, Barnett APA. Pied tamarins change their vocal behavior in response to noise levels in the largest city in the Amazon. Am J Primatol 2024; 86:e23606. [PMID: 38340360 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2023] [Revised: 01/14/2024] [Accepted: 01/27/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024]
Abstract
Many animal species depend on sound to communicate with conspecifics. However, human-generated (anthropogenic) noise may mask acoustic signals and so disrupt behavior. Animals may use various strategies to circumvent this, including shifts in the timing of vocal activity and changes to the acoustic parameters of their calls. We tested whether pied tamarins (Saguinus bicolor) adjust their vocal behavior in response to city noise. We predicted that both the probability of occurrence and the number of long calls would increase in response to anthropogenic noise and that pied tamarins would temporally shift their vocal activity to avoid noisier periods. At a finer scale, we anticipated that the temporal parameters of tamarin calls (e.g., call duration and syllable repetition rate) would increase with noise amplitude. We collected information on the acoustic environment and the emission of long calls in nine wild pied tamarin groups in Manaus, Brazil. We found that the probability of long-call occurrence increased with higher levels of anthropogenic noise, though the number of long calls did not. The number of long calls was related to the time of day and the distance from home range borders-a proxy for the distance to neighboring groups. Neither long-call occurrence nor call rate was related to noise levels at different times of day. We found that pied tamarins decreased their syllable repetition rate in response to anthropogenic noise. Long calls are important for group cohesion and intergroup communication. Thus, it is possible that the tamarins emit one long call with lower syllable repetition, which might facilitate signal reception. The occurrence and quantity of pied tamarin' long calls, as well as their acoustic proprieties, seem to be governed by anthropogenic noise, time of the day, and social mechanisms such as proximity to neighboring groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tainara Venturini Sobroza
- Projeto Sauim-de-Coleira, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- Centro de Estudos Integrados da Biodiversidade Amazônica- CENBAM/PPBio de Pesquisa de Mamíferos Amazônicos, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- Grupo de Pesquisa de Mamíferos Amazônicos, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Conservação e Uso de Recursos Naturais, Universidade Federal de Rondônia, Boa Vista, Rondônia, Brazil
| | - Marcelo Gordo
- Projeto Sauim-de-Coleira, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
| | - Jacob C Dunn
- Department of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | | | - Adrian Paul Ashton Barnett
- Grupo de Pesquisa de Mamíferos Amazônicos, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
- Departamento de Zoologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual do Maranhão, São Luis, Maranhão, Brazil
- Department of Natural Sciences, Middlesex University, London, UK
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2
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Stein RM, Rachlow JL. Acoustic ecology of terrestrial mammals: a new Signaller–Receiver Conceptual Framework. Mamm Rev 2023. [DOI: 10.1111/mam.12314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Rachel M. Stein
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences University of Idaho 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1136 Moscow ID 83844‐1136 USA
| | - Janet L. Rachlow
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences University of Idaho 875 Perimeter Drive MS 1136 Moscow ID 83844‐1136 USA
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3
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Adret P. Developmental Plasticity in Primate Coordinated Song: Parallels and Divergences With Duetting Songbirds. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.862196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Homeothermic animals (birds and mammals) are prime model systems for investigating the developmental plasticity and neural mechanisms of vocal duetting, a cooperative acoustic signal that prevails in family-living and pair-bonded species including humans. This review focuses on the nature of this trait and its nurturing during ontogeny and extending into adulthood. I begin by outlining the underpinning concepts of duet codes and pair-specific answering rules as used by birds to develop their learned coordinated song, driven by a complex interaction between self-generated and socially mediated auditory feedback. The more tractable avian model of duetting helps identify research gaps in singing primates that also use duetting as a type of intraspecific vocal interaction. Nevertheless, it has become clear that primate coordinated song—whether overlapping or antiphonal—is subject to some degree of vocal flexibility. This is reflected in the ability of lesser apes, titi monkeys, tarsiers, and lemurs to adjust the structure and timing of their calls through (1) social influence, (2) coordinated duetting both before and after mating, (3) the repair of vocal mistakes, (4) the production of heterosexual song early in life, (5) vocal accommodation in call rhythm, (6) conditioning, and (7) innovation. Furthermore, experimental work on the neural underpinnings of avian and mammalian antiphonal duets point to a hierarchical (cortico-subcortical) control mechanism that regulates, via inhibition, the temporal segregation of rapid vocal exchanges. I discuss some weaknesses in this growing field of research and highlight prospective avenues for future investigation.
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Leongómez JD, Havlíček J, Roberts SC. Musicality in human vocal communication: an evolutionary perspective. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200391. [PMID: 34775823 PMCID: PMC8591388 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 07/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies show that specific vocal modulations, akin to those of infant-directed speech (IDS) and perhaps music, play a role in communicating intentions and mental states during human social interaction. Based on this, we propose a model for the evolution of musicality-the capacity to process musical information-in relation to human vocal communication. We suggest that a complex social environment, with strong social bonds, promoted the appearance of musicality-related abilities. These social bonds were not limited to those between offspring and mothers or other carers, although these may have been especially influential in view of altriciality of human infants. The model can be further tested in other species by comparing levels of sociality and complexity of vocal communication. By integrating several theories, our model presents a radically different view of musicality, not limited to specifically musical scenarios, but one in which this capacity originally evolved to aid parent-infant communication and bonding, and even today plays a role not only in music but also in IDS, as well as in some adult-directed speech contexts. This article is part of the theme issue 'Voice modulation: from origin and mechanism to social impact (Part II)'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan David Leongómez
- Human Behaviour Lab, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad El Bosque, Bogota, Colombia
| | - Jan Havlíček
- Department of Zoology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - S. Craig Roberts
- Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
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5
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Schruth DM, Templeton CN, Holman DJ. On reappearance and complexity in musical calling. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0218006. [PMID: 34919558 PMCID: PMC8683036 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2019] [Accepted: 10/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Music is especially valued in human societies, but music-like behavior in the form of song also occurs in a variety of other animal groups including primates. The calling of our primate ancestors may well have evolved into the music of modern humans via multiple selective scenarios. But efforts to uncover these influences have been hindered by the challenge of precisely defining musical behavior in a way that could be more generally applied across species. We propose an acoustic focused reconsideration of "musicality" that could help enable independent inquiry into potential ecological pressures on the evolutionary emergence of such behavior. Using published spectrographic images (n = 832 vocalizations) from the primate vocalization literature, we developed a quantitative formulation that could be used to help recognize signatures of human-like musicality in the acoustic displays of other species. We visually scored each spectrogram along six structural features from human music-tone, interval, transposition, repetition, rhythm, and syllabic variation-and reduced this multivariate assessment into a concise measure of musical patterning, as informed by principal components analysis. The resulting acoustic reappearance diversity index (ARDI) estimates the number of different reappearing syllables within a call type. ARDI is in concordance with traditional measures of bird song complexity yet more readily identifies shorter, more subtly melodic primate vocalizations. We demonstrate the potential utility of this index by using it to corroborate several origins scenarios. When comparing ARDI scores with ecological features, our data suggest that vocalizations with diversely reappearing elements have a pronounced association with both social and environmental factors. Musical calls were moderately associated with wooded habitats and arboreal foraging, providing partial support for the acoustic adaptation hypothesis. But musical calling was most strongly associated with social monogamy, suggestive of selection for constituents of small family-sized groups by neighboring conspecifics. In sum, ARDI helps construe musical behavior along a continuum, accommodates non-human musicality, and enables gradualistic co-evolutionary paths between primate taxa-ranging from the more inhibited locational calls of archaic primates to the more exhibitional displays of modern apes.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M. Schruth
- Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | | | - Darryl J. Holman
- Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
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De Gregorio C, Carugati F, Estienne V, Valente D, Raimondi T, Torti V, Miaretsoa L, Ratsimbazafy J, Gamba M, Giacoma C. Born to sing! Song development in a singing primate. Curr Zool 2021; 67:585-596. [PMID: 34805535 PMCID: PMC8598991 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoab018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In animal vocal communication, the development of adult-like vocalization is fundamental to interact appropriately with conspecifics. However, the factors that guide ontogenetic changes in the acoustic features remain poorly understood. In contrast with a historical view of nonhuman primate vocal production as substantially innate, recent research suggests that inheritance and physiological modification can only explain some of the developmental changes in call structure during growth. A particular case of acoustic communication is the indris' singing behavior, a peculiar case among Strepsirrhine primates. Thanks to a decade of intense data collection, this work provides the first long-term quantitative analysis on song development in a singing primate. To understand the ontogeny of such a complex vocal output, we investigated juvenile and sub-adult indris' vocal behavior, and we found that young individuals started participating in the chorus years earlier than previously reported. Our results indicated that spectro-temporal song parameters underwent essential changes during growth. In particular, the age and sex of the emitter influenced the indris' vocal activity. We found that frequency parameters showed consistent changes across the sexes, but the temporal features showed different developmental trajectories for males and females. Given the low level of morphological sexual dimorphism and the marked differences in vocal behavior, we hypothesize that factors like social influences and auditory feedback may affect songs' features, resulting in high vocal flexibility in juvenile indris. This trait may be pivotal in a species that engages in choruses with rapid vocal turn-taking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Filippo Carugati
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Vittoria Estienne
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Teresa Raimondi
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Longondraza Miaretsoa
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Jonah Ratsimbazafy
- Groupe d’Etude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP), BP 779 – Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
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7
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Zürcher Y, Willems EP, Burkart JM. Trade-offs between vocal accommodation and individual recognisability in common marmoset vocalizations. Sci Rep 2021; 11:15683. [PMID: 34344939 PMCID: PMC8333328 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-95101-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies find increasing evidence for vocal accommodation in nonhuman primates, indicating that this form of vocal learning is more prevalent than previously thought. Convergent vocal accommodation (i.e. becoming more similar to partners) indicates social closeness. At the same time, however, becoming too similar may compromise individual recognisability. This is especially problematic if individual recognisability is an important part of the call function, like in long-distance contact calls. In contrast, in calls with a different function, the trade-off between signalling social closeness and individual recognisability might be less severe. We therefore hypothesized that the extent and consequences of accommodation depend on the function of a given call, and expected (1) more accommodation in calls for which individual identity is less crucial and (2) that individual identity is less compromised in calls that serve mainly to transmit identity compared to calls where individual recognisability is less important. We quantified vocal accommodation in three call types over the process of pair formation in common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus, n = 20). These three call types have different functions and vary with the degree to which they refer to individual identity of the caller. In accordance with our predictions, we found that animals converged most in close contact calls (trill calls), but less in calls where individual identity is more essential (phee- and food calls). In two out of three call types, the amount of accommodation was predicted by the initial vocal distance. Moreover, accommodation led to a drop in statistical individual recognisability in trill calls, but not in phee calls and food calls. Overall, our study shows that patterns of vocal accommodation vary between call types with different functions, suggestive of trade-offs between signalling social closeness and individual recognisability in marmoset vocalizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Y Zürcher
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - E P Willems
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - J M Burkart
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich, Switzerland
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8
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9
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Abstract
Music comprises a diverse category of cognitive phenomena that likely represent both the effects of psychological adaptations that are specific to music (e.g., rhythmic entrainment) and the effects of adaptations for non-musical functions (e.g., auditory scene analysis). How did music evolve? Here, we show that prevailing views on the evolution of music - that music is a byproduct of other evolved faculties, evolved for social bonding, or evolved to signal mate quality - are incomplete or wrong. We argue instead that music evolved as a credible signal in at least two contexts: coalitional interactions and infant care. Specifically, we propose that (1) the production and reception of coordinated, entrained rhythmic displays is a co-evolved system for credibly signaling coalition strength, size, and coordination ability; and (2) the production and reception of infant-directed song is a co-evolved system for credibly signaling parental attention to secondarily altricial infants. These proposals, supported by interdisciplinary evidence, suggest that basic features of music, such as melody and rhythm, result from adaptations in the proper domain of human music. The adaptations provide a foundation for the cultural evolution of music in its actual domain, yielding the diversity of musical forms and musical behaviors found worldwide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel A Mehr
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138, ; https://; https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/epl
- Data Science Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington6012, New Zealand
| | - Max M Krasnow
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138, ; https://; https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/epl
| | - Gregory A Bryant
- Department of Communication, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095, ; https://gabryant.bol.ucla.edu
- Center for Behavior, Evolution, & Culture, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA90095
| | - Edward H Hagen
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA98686, USA. ; https://anthro.vancouver.wsu.edu/people/hagen
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10
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Zanoli A, De Gregorio C, Valente D, Torti V, Bonadonna G, Randrianarison RM, Giacoma C, Gamba M. Sexually dimorphic phrase organization in the song of the indris (Indri indri). Am J Primatol 2020; 82:e23132. [PMID: 32277718 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2019] [Revised: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 03/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Animal acoustic communication often takes the form of complex sequences, composed of multiple distinct acoustic units, which can vary in their degree of stereotypy. Studies of sequence variation may contribute to our understanding of the structural flexibility of primates' songs, which can provide essential ecological and behavioral information about variability at the individual, population, and specific level and provide insights into the mechanisms and drivers responsible for the evolutionary change of communicative traits. Several methods have been used for investigating different levels of structural information and sequence similarity in acoustic displays. We studied intra and interindividual variation in the song structuring of a singing primate, the indri (Indri indri), which inhabits the montane rain forests of Madagascar. Indri groups emit duets and choruses in which they combine long notes, short single units, and phrases consisting of a variable number of units (from two to six) with slightly descending frequency. Males' and females' contributions to the song differ in the temporal and frequency structure of song units and repertoire size. We calculated the similarity of phrase organization across different individual contributions using the Levenshtein distance, a logic distance that expressed the minimum cost to convert a sequence into another and can measure differences between two sequences of data. We then analyzed the degree of similarity within and between individuals and found that: (a) the phrase structure of songs varied between reproductive males and females: female structuring of the song showed a higher number of phrases if compared to males; (b) male contributions to the song were overall more similar to those of other males than were female contributions to the song of other females; (c) male contributions were more stereotyped than female contributions, which showed greater individual flexibility. The picture emerging from phrase combinatorics in the indris is in agreement with previous findings of rhythmic features and song repertoire size of the indris, which also suggested that female songs are potentially less stereotyped than those of males.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Zanoli
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Chiara De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Giovanna Bonadonna
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Rose Marie Randrianarison
- Groupe d'Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP), Antananarivo, Madagascar.,Mention d'Anthropobiologie et de Développement Durable (MADD), Université d'Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
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Singletary B, Tecot S. Multimodal pair-bond maintenance: A review of signaling across modalities in pair-bonded nonhuman primates. Am J Primatol 2020; 82:e23105. [PMID: 32011759 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2019] [Revised: 01/21/2020] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Only a handful of primate species exhibit the social relationship of pair-bonding. Efficient communication is critical for behavioral coordination within pair-bonds to maintain proximity and respond appropriately to extra-pair individuals, and possibly coordinate infant care. The use of complex signaling across modalities may help individuals improve communicative outcomes. We review many ways that pair-bonded species use signals to communicate and maintain bonds, though little previous research has taken a truly multimodal approach within a single species. We make a call for further investigation into pair-bonded communication using a multimodal approach to better understand how these species use all their senses to build, maintain, and advertise their bonds.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stacey Tecot
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.,Laboratory for the Evolutionary Endocrinology of Primates, School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
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12
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Sexual dimorphism in the loud calls of Azara's owl monkeys (Aotus azarae): evidence of sexual selection? Primates 2019; 61:309-319. [PMID: 31729621 DOI: 10.1007/s10329-019-00773-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2019] [Accepted: 11/04/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Primates use different types of vocalizations in a variety of contexts. Some of the most studied types have been the long distance or loud calls. These vocalizations have been associated with mate defense, mate attraction, and resource defense, and it is plausible that sexual selection has played an important role in their evolution. Focusing on identified individuals of known sex and age, we evaluated the sexual dimorphism in a type of loud calls (hoots) in a population of wild owl monkeys (Aotus azarae) in Argentina. We found evidence of sexual dimorphism in call structure, with females and males only emitting one type of call, each differing in dominant frequency and Shannon entropy. In addition, both age-related and sex-specific differences in call usage were also apparent in response to the removal of one group member. Future acoustic data will allow us to assess if there are individual characteristics and if the structure of hoot calls presents differences in relation to the social condition of owl monkeys or specific sex responses to variants of hoot calls' traits. This will provide deeper insights into the evolution of vocal mechanisms regulating pair bonding and mate choice strategies in this and other primate species.
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13
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Zürcher Y, Willems EP, Burkart JM. Are dialects socially learned in marmoset monkeys? Evidence from translocation experiments. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0222486. [PMID: 31644527 PMCID: PMC6808547 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2018] [Accepted: 09/01/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The acoustic properties of vocalizations in common marmosets differ between populations. These differences may be the result of social vocal learning, but they can also result from environmental or genetic differences between populations. We performed translocation experiments to separately quantify the influence of a change in the physical environment (experiment 1), and a change in the social environment (experiment 2) on the acoustic properties of calls from individual captive common marmosets. If population differences were due to genetic differences, we expected no change in the vocalizations of the translocated marmosets. If differences were due to environmental factors, we expected vocalizations to permanently change contingent with environmental changes. If social learning was involved, we expected that the vocalizations of animals translocated to a new population with a different dialect would become more similar to the new population. In experiment 1, we translocated marmosets to a different physical environment without changing the social composition of the groups or their neighbours. Immediately after the translocation to the new facility, one out of three call types showed a significant change in call structure, but 5-6 weeks later, the calls were no longer different from before the translocation. Thus, the novel physical environment did not induce long lasting changes in the vocalizations of the marmosets. In experiment 2, we translocated marmosets to a new population with a different dialect. Importantly, our previous work had shown that these two populations differed significantly in vocalization structure. The translocated marmosets were still housed in their original social group, but after translocation they were surrounded by the vocalizations from neighbouring groups of the new population. The vocal distance between the translocated individuals and the new population decreased for two out of three call types over 16 weeks. Thus, even without direct social contact or interaction, the vocalizations of the translocated animals converged towards the new population, indicating that common marmosets can modify their calls due to acoustic input from conspecifics alone, via crowd vocal learning. To our knowledge, this is the first study able to distinguish between different explanations for vocal dialects as well as to show crowd vocal learning in a primate species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yvonne Zürcher
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Erik P. Willems
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Judith M. Burkart
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse, Zürich, Switzerland
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14
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Berthet M, Neumann C, Mesbahi G, Cäsar C, Zuberbühler K. Contextual encoding in titi monkey alarm call sequences. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2424-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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