An Audience Effect in Sooty Mangabey Alarm Calling
Fredy Quintero1,2, Sonia Touitou2, Martina Magris2
1Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Frontiers in Psychology
|March 10, 2022
Summary
Sooty mangabeys adjust their snake alarm calls based on audience size and social context. This suggests intentional communication, where calls aim to influence listener behavior, rather than just expressing internal states.
Area of Science:
- Primatology
- Animal Behavior
- Evolutionary Biology
Background:
- Intentional communication is key to human language evolution.
- Animal signaling research often focuses on ape gestures, with vocalizations seen as functionally fixed.
- Intentionality in vocalizations may depend on audience adaptation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if sooty mangabeys adjust snake alarm call production based on audience composition.
- To determine if vocalizations in non-human primates can demonstrate intentional communication.
Main Methods:
- Field experiments with free-ranging sooty mangabeys.
- Observing and recording alarm call production in response to varying audience types and social contexts.
- Analyzing call production in relation to the presence of naive individuals, prior calls, and socially important individuals.
Main Results:
- Alarm call production positively correlated with the arrival of naive individuals.
- Call production was higher with smaller audiences and when prior calls were not heard.
- Socially important individuals in the vicinity influenced call production.
Conclusions:
- Sooty mangabey snake alarm calls demonstrate intentionality.
- Call production is adapted to influence audience behavior regarding the external threat.
- This challenges the view of functionally fixed vocalizations, suggesting active reference to external events.
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