Vervet Crash Course: Communication
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- This is Part 3 of a crash course in vervet monkey behavior. This video is focused on vervet monkey communication and includes input from an expert in the field, Dr. Erica van de Waal. We focus on their 3 famous alarm calls ("leopard", "eagle", & "snake"), but we also delve into many forms of vervet vocal and physical communication. This video is not comprehensive by ANY means.
Special thanks to Dr. Stéphanie Mercier for the amazing footage of the vervet response to the leopard alarm call! I am terribly sorry I forgot to mention you in the credits!
Inkawu Vervet Project:
inkawuvervetproject.weebly.co...
Dr. Erica van de Waal:
www.unil.ch/dee/en/home/menui...
1:07 - Predator alarm calls
2:11 - Are the calls referential?
3:48 - Alarm call story
6:00 - contact calls
5:53 - Miscellaneous calls
6:10 - aggression calls
6:18 - lost call
6:42 - signs of stress
7:02 - signs of aggression and submission
7:32 - signs of affiliation
References:
Cheney DL, Seyfarth RM (1992b) How monkeys see the world: inside the mind of another species. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Price, T., Wadewitz, P., Cheney, D., Seyfarth, R., Hammerschmidt, K., & Fischer, J. (2015). Vervets revisited: A quantitative analysis of alarm call structure and context specificity. Scientific reports, 5(1), 1-11.
Redican, W. K., & WK, R. (1975). Facial expressions in nonhuman primates.
Van Hooff, J. A. R. A. M. (1962). Facial expressions in higher primates. In Symp Zool Soc Lond (Vol. 8, pp. 97-125).
Additional communication reading:
Price, T., & Fischer, J. (2014). Meaning attribution in the West African green monkey: influence of call type and context. Animal cognition, 17(2), 277-286.
Seyfarth, R. M., & Cheney, D. L. (2017). Precursors to language: Social cognition and pragmatic inference in primates. Psychonomic bulletin & review, 24(1), 79-84.
Seyfarth, R. M., & Cheney, D. L. (2017). The origin of meaning in animal signals. Animal Behaviour, 124, 339-346.
Thank you, I enjoyed your video.
Wow! One of my dream is to be wildlife biologist fans from Philippines
does there seem to be any reasoning behind each different call? or are they mostly arbitrary? cheers, great video.
Is there a mating call or a call to say I found food ?
There are no mating calls or any big showy displays leading up to mating, often vervet monkeys mate quickly and discretely. I am planning another video on reproduction to explain this more (but it will probably not be until after I finish my MSc this year). Vervets do make food calls. The calls seem to be involuntary and are related to the caller’s preference for food or the degree to which foods can be shared. It's comparable to the sounds I make when I see good food in a shop window or when I am eating something really good. It's not really like telling someone 'there is food here.'
Thanks for the questions! 😄
are there any calls i can use to call them into a certain area?
Do different groups have different “languages” like orcas? Or are their calls born into them and all of them have the same calls and meanings?
That is a really interesting question! I am not entirely confident in the answer but I have consulted with some PhD student friends and this is our collective attempt at an answer. Their calls are innate but also parts of them are socially learned (to a certain degree). Out of the 6 species of vervets (with a debated 7th) only 2 species have been studied for their vocalisations thusfar (Chlorocebus sabaeus and C. pygerythrus), so we don’t really know enough to make strong conclusions yet. However, their calls are not quite as complex as orca communication, and ‘cultural’ differences are not apparent as of now. Vervet calls are definitely less flexible. I personally hear distinct differences in C. sabaeus and C. pygerythrus alarm calls, but this variation is not the same kind as languages and there is a potential that if those alarms are played in the opposite species group, they would respond appropriately (I would be so interested to test that)! I hope this answers your question and that I didn’t go too far off on tangents.
When will you release a new clip?
Hopefully this winter! I just finished a Master’s program and I have more time to think about making content.