Sociality predicts orangutan vocal phenotype.
Adriano R Lameira1,2, Guillermo Santamaría-Bonfil3, Deborah Galeone4
1Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. adriano.lameira@warwick.ac.uk.
Nature Ecology & Evolution
|March 22, 2022
Summary
Social settings shape vocalizations in wild orangutans, revealing distinct "vocal personalities" linked to population density. This challenges ideas of fixed vocal development in great apes, showing sociality influences their vocal phenotype.
Area of Science:
- Primatology
- Ethology
- Bioacoustics
Background:
- Social environment influences language acquisition in humans.
- Sociality guides vocal development in songbirds and marmoset monkeys.
- Great ape vocal development data is lacking, fueling debates on language evolution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between sociality and vocal phenotype in wild orangutans.
- To provide evidence for social influence on vocal behavior in a great ape species.
- To challenge hypotheses of hardwired, non-plastic vocal development in great apes.
Main Methods:
- Characterized repertoire entropy of orangutan individuals in the wild.
- Compared vocal characteristics across populations with varying social densities.
- Utilized non-invasive observational methods.
Main Results:
- Different degrees of sociality correlated with distinct 'vocal personalities'.
- High-density populations showed more original, unpredictable calls with shorter lifespans.
- Low-density populations exhibited more conformative, consistent calls with greater complexity.
Conclusions:
- Sociality predicts vocal phenotype in wild great apes.
- Findings demonstrate social molding of vocal output in non-human hominids.
- Challenges the notion of fixed vocal development programs in great apes.
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