1
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Vanderhoff EN, Bernal Hoverud N. Perspectives on Antiphonal Calling, Duetting and Counter-Singing in Non-primate Mammals: An Overview With Notes on the Coordinated Vocalizations of Bamboo Rats (Dactylomys spp., Rodentia: Echimyidae). Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.906546] [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
Temporally coordinated interactive vocalizations are important means of communication between individuals in various animal taxa. In mammals, interactive calling and singing can be highly synchronized to create either overlapping or antiphonal duets while in others, competitors antagonistically vocalize, engaging in counter-singing. Among non-primate mammals these vocalizations are considered rare and poorly understood. We provide an overview of antiphonal calling, duetting and counter-singing in non-primate mammals. Many of these coordinated vocalizations play a role in social interactions and allow mammals to convey information to other members of the social unit in visually inaccessible environments. South American Bamboo rats Dactylomys spp. are arboreal bamboo specialists found in dense bamboo thickets in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Colombia. These nocturnal rodents are rarely seen but can be easily heard because of their loud and distinctive staccato vocalizations. We provide some evidence that Bamboo rats engage in duetting, and as such they provide another case of a mammalian species, in which to investigate temporally coordinated interactive singing. We urge researchers to work toward common definitions of temporally coordinated vocalizations and to search for more mammals that utilize such vocalizations.
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2
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Dolotovskaya S, Heymann EW. Coordinated Singing in Coppery Titi Monkeys (Plecturocebus cupreus): Resource or Mate Defense? Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.898509] [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
Coordinated singing, performed as duets by mated pairs and often joined by offspring to form choruses, is a distinctive behavioral attribute of the social system of pair-living and pair-bonded Neotropical titi monkeys. Duets and choruses are presumed to be associated with mate or territorial defense, but no consensus has yet been reached regarding their function. Here, we examined temporal and spatial patterns of coordinated singing in eight wild groups of coppery titi monkeys, Plecturocebus cupreus, in Peruvian Amazonia to test predictions of the joint resource and mate defense. We investigated singing rates in relation to female reproductive state, fruit consumption and demographic context using a dataset based on 227 observation days and analyzed temporal and spatial distribution of songs using a dataset based on 150 songs, collected between June 2017 and September 2021. Titi monkeys sang least frequently when females were likely to be sexually receptive and most frequently when females were likely to be pregnant. Groups also sang slightly more often when fruits were consumed more intensively, although this association did not reach statistical significance. The duration of songs was not associated with female reproductive state or fruit consumption, but songs were longer during inter-group encounters compared to non-encounter contexts. Songs were not concentrated in the core areas of home ranges; rather, they were distributed throughout the home ranges in concordance with its use. Finally, songs were concentrated around dawn. Our results provide support for a function in joint resource defense and inter-group communication of coordinated songs in coppery titi monkeys. The function of coordinated songs for mate defense in the form of paternity guarding, on the other hand, was not supported by our findings.
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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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4
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De Gregorio C, Carugati F, Valente D, Raimondi T, Torti V, Miaretsoa L, Gamba M, Giacoma C. Notes on a tree: reframing the relevance of primate choruses, duets, and solo songs. ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2021.2015451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Chiara De Gregorio
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Filippo Carugati
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Daria Valente
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
- Équipe de Neuro-Éthologie Sensorielle (ENES), Centre de Recherche En Neurosciences de Lyon 8 (CRNL), CNRL, INSERM, University of Lyon/Saint-Étienne, Saint-Étienne, France
| | - Teresa Raimondi
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Valeria Torti
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Longondraza Miaretsoa
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Marco Gamba
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
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5
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On the occurrence of the Critically Endangered blond titi (Callicebus barbarabrownae): reassessment of occupied areas and minimum population size. INT J PRIMATOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-021-00269-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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6
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Clink DJ, Lau AR, Kanthaswamy S, Johnson LM, Bales KL. Moderate evidence for heritability in the duet contributions of a South American primate. J Evol Biol 2022; 35:51-63. [PMID: 34822207 PMCID: PMC9514391 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Revised: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 11/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Acoustic signals are ubiquitous across mammalian taxa. They serve a myriad of functions related to the formation and maintenance of social bonds and can provide conspecifics information about caller condition, motivation and identity. Disentangling the relative importance of evolutionary mechanisms that shape vocal variation is difficult, and little is known about heritability of mammalian vocalizations. Duetting--coordinated vocalizations within male and female pairs--arose independently at least four times across the Primate Order. Primate duets contain individual- or pair-level signatures, but the mechanisms that shape this variation remain unclear. Here, we test for evidence of heritability in two call types (pulses and chirps) from the duets of captive coppery titi monkeys (Plecturocebus cupreus). We extracted four features--note rate, duration, minimum and maximum fundamental frequency--from spectrograms of pulses and chirps, and estimated heritability of the features. We also tested whether features varied with sex or body weight. We found evidence for moderate heritability in one of the features examined (chirp note rate), whereas inter-individual variance was the most important source of variance for the rest of the features. We did not find evidence for sex differences in any of the features, but we did find that body weight and fundamental frequency of chirp elements covaried. Kin recognition has been invoked as a possible explanation for heritability or kin signatures in mammalian vocalizations. Although the function of primate duets remains a topic of debate, the presence of moderate heritability in titi monkey chirp elements indicates duets may serve a kin recognition function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dena J. Clink
- K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850
| | - Allison R. Lau
- Animal Behavior Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616,California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616
| | - Sreetharan Kanthaswamy
- School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Arizona State University (ASU) at the West Campus, Glendale, AZ, USA,California National Primate Research Center, University of California, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Lynn M. Johnson
- Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Karen L. Bales
- Animal Behavior Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616,California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616,Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA,Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
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7
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Ma H, Ma C, Fan P. Adult male-female social bond advertising: The primary function of coordinated singing intensity in a small ape. Am J Primatol 2021; 84:e23351. [PMID: 34855237 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Revised: 11/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Adult male and female coordinated singing occur in diverse animal taxa. Adult male-female social bond advertising and strengthening have been proposed as two important functional hypotheses of coordinated singing. Here we studied these two functions in four groups of cao vit gibbon (Nomascus nasutus), a small ape that lives in polygynous family groups and adult members coordinated their sex-specific songs to produce complex duets or trios (three members sing together), using 6-year field behavioral data. In this study, we used the number of successful great call sequences per bout or per minute, and latency period from start of the adult male call to the first successful great call sequence to represent singing intensity. We used the proportion of proximity, behavioral synchronization, and grooming between adult male and female to represent bond strength. We used linear mixed-effects model to investigate the correlation between singing intensity and adult male-female social bond strength. We found a negative correlation between all three bond strength indicators and female latency period (N = 209), and a positive correlation between the number of successful great call sequences per bout (N = 253) and per minute (N = 254) and proximity. We used paired Wilcoxon signed-rank test to investigate if adult gibbons increase bond strength after singing. We found proximity (hourly level: N = 45; daily level: N = 54), behavioral synchronization (hourly level: N = 57; daily level: N = 49), and grooming (daily level: N = 34) in most of the groups did not increase significantly after singing in an hourly or daily level. Together, these results indicate that cao vit gibbon coordinated singing serves primarily in adult male-female social bond advertising and distinct singing intensity indicators advertise different information on adult male-female social bond strength.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haigang Ma
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - Changyong Ma
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
| | - Pengfei Fan
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China
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8
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Garcia de la Chica A, Wood DB, Rotundo M, Fernandez‐Duque E. Responses of a pair‐living, sexually monogamous primate to the simulated presence of solitary individuals: A field playback experiment. Ethology 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | - David Bechtel Wood
- Owl Monkey Project‐ Fundación ECO Formosa Argentina
- Yale University New Haven Connecticut USA
| | | | - Eduardo Fernandez‐Duque
- Owl Monkey Project‐ Fundación ECO Formosa Argentina
- Yale University New Haven Connecticut USA
- Universidad de Formosa Formosa Argentina
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9
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Carouso-Peck S, Goldstein MH, Fitch WT. The many functions of vocal learning. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200235. [PMID: 34482721 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The capacity to learn novel vocalizations has evolved convergently in a wide range of species. Courtship songs of male birds or whales are often treated as prototypical examples, implying a sexually selected context for the evolution of this ability. However, functions of learned vocalizations in different species are far more diverse than courtship, spanning a range of socio-positive contexts from individual identification, social cohesion, or advertising pair bonds, as well as agonistic contexts such as territorial defence, deceptive alarm calling or luring prey. Here, we survey the diverse usages and proposed functions of learned novel signals, to build a framework for considering the evolution of vocal learning capacities that extends beyond sexual selection. For each function that can be identified for learned signals, we provide examples of species using unlearned signals to accomplish the same goals. We use such comparisons to generate hypotheses concerning when vocal learning is adaptive, given a particular suite of socio-ecological traits. Finally, we identify areas of uncertainty where improved understanding would allow us to better test these hypotheses. Considering the broad range of potential functions of vocal learning will yield a richer appreciation of its evolution than a narrow focus on a few prototypical species. This article is part of the theme issue 'Vocal learning in animals and humans'.
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10
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Van Belle S, Porter AM, Fernandez-Duque E, Di Fiore A. Ranging behavior and the potential for territoriality in pair-living titi monkeys (Plecturocebus discolor). Am J Primatol 2020; 83:e23225. [PMID: 33368565 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2020] [Revised: 11/23/2020] [Accepted: 12/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Patterns of ranging behavior and space use are key for evaluating current ideas about the evolution and maintenance of pair-living and sexual monogamy as they provide insights into the dispersion of females, the potential for territoriality, and whether males are limited to defending an area that can support only one female and her offspring. We examined ranging behavior and space use to evaluate the potential for territoriality in five groups of red titi monkeys (Plecturocebus discolor) during a 10-year study in Ecuadorian Amazonia. Mean home range size, calculated using a time-sensitive local convex hull estimation procedure, was 4.0 ± 1.4 ha. Annual home ranges of neighboring groups overlapped, on average, 0%-7%. Mean daily path length was 670 ± 194 m, resulting in defendability indices of 2.2-3.6 across groups. Groups visited, on average, 4 of 12 sections of their home range border area per day, but that was not more often than would be expected by chance, and intergroup encounters were infrequent. We did not find evidence of active monitoring for intruders in border areas, in that groups did not travel either faster or slower when at the border than when in central areas of their range. The absence of overt monitoring might be compensated for by engaging in loud calls, which the study groups did throughout their home ranges; these calls may serve as an advertisement of occupancy and a deterrent to intruding conspecifics. Our finding that red titis have a high potential for territoriality is consistent with several of the main hypotheses proposed to explain pair-living in mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarie Van Belle
- Department of Anthropology and Primate Molecular Ecology and Evolution Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
| | - Amy M Porter
- Department of Anthropology, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA
| | - Eduardo Fernandez-Duque
- Department of Anthropology and School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.,Facultad de Recursos Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Formosa, Formosa, Argentina.,College of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Cumbayá, Ecuador
| | - Anthony Di Fiore
- Department of Anthropology and Primate Molecular Ecology and Evolution Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.,College of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Cumbayá, Ecuador
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11
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Clink DJ, Lau AR. Adherence to Menzerath's Law is the exception (not the rule) in three duetting primate species. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:201557. [PMID: 33391812 PMCID: PMC7735330 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Across diverse systems including language, music and genomes, there is a tendency for longer sequences to contain shorter constituents; this phenomenon is known as Menzerath's Law. Whether Menzerath's Law is a universal in biological systems, is the result of compression (wherein shortest possible strings represent the maximum amount of information) or emerges from an inevitable relationship between sequence and constituent length remains a topic of debate. In non-human primates, the vocalizations of geladas, male gibbons and chimpanzees exhibit patterns consistent with Menzerath's Law. Here, we use existing datasets of three duetting primate species (tarsiers, titi monkeys and gibbons) to examine the wide-scale applicability of Menzerath's Law. Primate duets provide a useful comparative model to test for the broad-scale applicability of Menzerath's Law, as they evolved independently under presumably similar selection pressures and are emitted under the same context(s) across taxa. Only four out of the eight call types we examined were consistent with Menzerath's Law. Two of these call types exhibited a negative relationship between the position of the note in the call and note duration, indicating that adherence to Menzerath's Law in these call types may be related to breathing constraints. Exceptions to Menzerath's Law occur when notes are relatively homogeneous, or when species-specific call structure leads to a deterministic decrease in note duration. We show that adherence to Menzerath's Law is the exception rather than the rule in duetting primates. It is possible that selection pressures for long-range signals that can travel effectively over large distances was stronger than that of compression in primate duets. Future studies investigating adherence to Menzerath's Law across the vocal repertoires of these species will help us better elucidate the pressures that shape both short- and long-distance acoustic signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dena J. Clink
- Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
| | - Allison R. Lau
- Animal Behavior Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
- California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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12
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Rothwell ES, Carp SB, Savidge LE, Mendoza SP, Bales KL. Relationship tenure differentially influences pair-bond behavior in male and female socially monogamous titi monkeys (Callicebus cupreus). Am J Primatol 2020; 82:e23181. [PMID: 32748458 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2019] [Revised: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 07/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Pair-bonded primates have uniquely enduring relationships and partners engage in a suite of behaviors to maintain these close bonds. In titi monkeys, pair bond formation has been extensively studied, but changes across relationship tenure remain unstudied. We evaluated differences in behavioral indicators of pair bonding in newly formed (~6 months paired, n = 9) compared to well-established pairs (average 3 years paired, n = 8) of titi monkeys (Callicebus cupreus) as well as sex differences within the pairs. We hypothesized that overall males would contribute more to maintenance than females, but that the pattern of maintenance behaviors would differ between newly formed and well-established pairs. Each titi monkey (N = 34) participated in a partner preference test (PPT), where the subject was placed in a middle test cage with grated windows separating the subject from the partner on one side and an opposite-sex stranger on the other side. During this 150-min behavioral test, we quantified four key behaviors: time in proximity to the partner or stranger as well as aggressive displays toward the partner or stranger. Overall, we found different behavioral profiles representing newly formed and well-established pair-bond relationships in titi monkeys and male-biased relationship maintenance. Males spent ∼40% of their time in the PPT maintaining proximity to the female partner, regardless of relationship tenure. Males from well-established bonds spent less time (14%) near the female stranger compared to males from newly formed bonds (21%) at the trend level. In contrast, females from well-established bonds spent less (23%) time near the male partner in the PPT compared to females from newly formed bonds (47%). Aggressive displays were more frequent in newly formed bonds compared to well-established bonds, especially for females. Scan sampling for homecage affiliation showed that newly formed pairs were more likely to be found tail twining than well-established pairs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily S Rothwell
- Neuroscience and Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California-Davis, Davis, California.,Animal Behavior Graduate Group, University of California-Davis, Davis, California
| | - Sarah B Carp
- Neuroscience and Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California-Davis, Davis, California
| | - Logan E Savidge
- Neuroscience and Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California-Davis, Davis, California.,Department of Psychology, University of California-Davis, Davis, California
| | - Sally P Mendoza
- Department of Psychology, University of California-Davis, Davis, California
| | - Karen L Bales
- Neuroscience and Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California-Davis, Davis, California.,Animal Behavior Graduate Group, University of California-Davis, Davis, California.,Department of Psychology, University of California-Davis, Davis, California
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13
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Mercier F, Witczak LR, Bales KL. Coppery titi monkey (Plecturocebus cupreus) pairs display coordinated behaviors in response to a simulated intruder. Am J Primatol 2020; 82:e23141. [PMID: 32415703 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2019] [Revised: 04/01/2020] [Accepted: 05/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Mate guarding and coordinated behaviors between partners are important for the maintenance of monogamous pair bonds. To study the effects of a perceived unfamiliar social intruder on females' behavior, we used coppery titi monkeys (Plecturocebus cupreus). We examined the effects of male aggressive temperament on females' behavior and the effects of each behavior performed by the male on the same female behavior. Using a mirror, we simulated a social intruder in the home territory and scored behaviors using an established ethogram. Based on our analysis of self-directed behaviors, females do not recognize themselves in the mirror. We then used general linear mixed models to predict percent change in females' behaviors as a function of (a) males' temperament, (b) males' behavior, and (c) an interaction between males' temperament and behavior. Male temperament did not significantly predict female behavior for any of our best fitting models. For percent change in female lip-smacking, male lip-smacking significantly predicted female lip-smacking (β = 0.74, SE = 0.22, t = 3.39; p = .004). There was a positive correlation between male and female agonistic behaviors such as back-arching/tail-lashing (β = 0.51, SE = 0.23, t = 2.22; p = .04) and for anxiety-related behaviors such as leaving the partner (β = 0.50, SE = 0.19, t = 2.68; p = .015), locomotion duration (β = 0.19, SE = 0.06, t = 2.98; p = .02), and locomotion frequency (β = 0.71, SE = 0.14, t = 5.17; p < .001). These findings on coordination of pair-mate behaviors may explain how titi monkeys display pair bond strength and ensure their reproductive success.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fanny Mercier
- Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, Toulouse, France.,California National Primate Research Center, Davis, California
| | - Lynea R Witczak
- California National Primate Research Center, Davis, California.,Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California
| | - Karen L Bales
- California National Primate Research Center, Davis, California.,Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California
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14
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Lau AR, Clink DJ, Bales KL. Individuality in the vocalizations of infant and adult coppery titi monkeys (Plecturocebus cupreus). Am J Primatol 2020; 82:e23134. [PMID: 32298003 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2019] [Revised: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 03/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
As social animals, many primates use acoustic communication to maintain relationships. Vocal individuality has been documented in a diverse range of primate species and call types, many of which have presumably different functions. Auditory recognition of one's neighbors may confer a selective advantage if identifying conspecifics decreases the need to participate in costly territorial behaviors. Alternatively, vocal individuality may be nonadaptive and the result of a unique combination of genetics and environment. Pair-bonded primates, in particular, often participate in coordinated vocal duets that can be heard over long distances by neighboring conspecifics. In contrast to adult calls, infant vocalizations are short-range and used for intragroup communication. Here, we provide two separate but complementary analyses of vocal individuality in distinct call types of coppery titi monkeys (Plecturocebus cupreus) to test whether individuality occurs in call types from animals of different age classes with presumably different functions. We analyzed 600 trill vocalizations from 30 infants and 169 pulse-chirp duet vocalizations from 30 adult titi monkeys. We predicted that duet contributions would exhibit a higher degree of individuality than infant trills, given their assumed function for long-distance, intergroup communication. We estimated 7 features from infant trills and 16 features from spectrograms of adult pulse-chirps, then used discriminant function analysis with leave-one-out cross-validation to classify individuals. We correctly classified infants with 48% accuracy and adults with 83% accuracy. To further investigate variance in call features, we used a multivariate variance components model to estimate variance partitioning in features across two levels: within- and between-individuals. Between-individual variance was the most important source of variance for all features in adults, and three of four features in infants. We show that pulse-chirps of adult titi monkey duets are individually distinct, and infant trills are less individually distinct, which may be due to the different functions of the vocalizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison R Lau
- Animal Behavior Graduate Group, University of California-Davis, Davis, California.,California National Primate Research Center, University of California-Davis, Davis, California
| | - Dena J Clink
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
| | - Karen L Bales
- Animal Behavior Graduate Group, University of California-Davis, Davis, California.,California National Primate Research Center, University of California-Davis, Davis, California.,Department of Psychology, University of California-Davis, Davis, California
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15
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Hasiniaina AF, Radespiel U, Kessler SE, Rina Evasoa M, Rasoloharijaona S, Randrianambinina B, Zimmermann E, Schmidt S, Scheumann M. Evolutionary significance of the variation in acoustic communication of a cryptic nocturnal primate radiation ( Microcebus spp.). Ecol Evol 2020; 10:3784-3797. [PMID: 32313636 PMCID: PMC7160168 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2019] [Revised: 02/07/2020] [Accepted: 02/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Acoustic phenotypic variation is of major importance for speciation and the evolution of species diversity. Whereas selective and stochastic forces shaping the acoustic divergence of signaling systems are well studied in insects, frogs, and birds, knowledge on the processes driving acoustic phenotypic evolution in mammals is limited. We quantified the acoustic variation of a call type exchanged during agonistic encounters across eight distinct species of the smallest-bodied nocturnal primate radiation, the Malagasy mouse lemurs. The species live in two different habitats (dry forest vs. humid forest), differ in geographic distance to each other, and belong to four distinct phylogenetic clades within the genus. Genetically defined species were discriminated reliably on the phenotypic level based on their acoustic distinctiveness in a discriminant function analysis. Acoustic variation was explained by genetic distance, whereas differences in morphology, forest type, or geographic distance had no effect. The strong impact of genetics was supported by a correlation between acoustic and genetic distance and the high agreement in branching pattern between the acoustic and molecular phylogenetic trees. In sum, stochastic factors such as genetic drift best explained acoustic diversification in a social communication call of mouse lemurs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ute Radespiel
- Institute of ZoologyUniversity of Veterinary Medicine HannoverHannoverGermany
| | - Sharon E. Kessler
- Department of PsychologyFaculty of Natural SciencesUniversity of StirlingStirlingScotland
- Department of AnthropologyDurham UniversityDurhamUK
| | - Mamy Rina Evasoa
- Faculty of Science, Technology and EnvironmentUniversity of MahajangaMahajangaMadagascar
| | | | | | - Elke Zimmermann
- Institute of ZoologyUniversity of Veterinary Medicine HannoverHannoverGermany
| | - Sabine Schmidt
- Institute of ZoologyUniversity of Veterinary Medicine HannoverHannoverGermany
| | - Marina Scheumann
- Institute of ZoologyUniversity of Veterinary Medicine HannoverHannoverGermany
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16
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Clink DJ, Tasirin JS, Klinck H. Vocal individuality and rhythm in male and female duet contributions of a nonhuman primate. Curr Zool 2020; 66:173-186. [PMID: 32440276 PMCID: PMC7233616 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoz035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2019] [Accepted: 06/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Duetting, or the stereotypical, repeated and often coordinated vocalizations between 2 individuals arose independently multiple times in the Order Primates. Across primate species, there exists substantial variation in terms of timing, degree of overlap, and sex-specificity of duet contributions. There is increasing evidence that primates can modify the timing of their duet contributions relative to their partner, and this vocal flexibility may have been an important precursor to the evolution of human language. Here, we present the results of a fine-scale analysis of Gursky's spectral tarsier Tarsius spectrumgurskyae duet phrases recorded in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Specifically, we aimed to investigate individual-level variation in the female and male contributions to the duet, quantify individual- and pair-level differences in duet timing, and measure temporal precision of duetting individuals relative to their partner. We were able to classify female duet phrases to the correct individual with an 80% accuracy using support vector machines, whereas our classification accuracy for males was lower at 64%. Females were more variable than males in terms of timing between notes. All tarsier phrases exhibited some degree of overlap between callers, and tarsiers exhibited high temporal precision in their note output relative to their partners. We provide evidence that duetting tarsier individuals can modify their note output relative to their duetting partner, and these results support the idea that flexibility in vocal exchanges-a precursor to human language-evolved early in the primate lineage and long before the emergence of modern humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dena J Clink
- Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA
| | - Johny S Tasirin
- Faculty of Agriculture, Sam Ratulangi University, Manado, Indonesia
| | - Holger Klinck
- Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA
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17
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Huck M, Di Fiore A, Fernandez-Duque E. Of Apples and Oranges? The Evolution of “Monogamy” in Non-human Primates. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
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