■灵长类动物了解自己和其他物种的含义\'报警电话,但是人们对他们如何获得这些知识知之甚少。这里,我们将直接的行为观察与回放实验相结合,以研究声乐发展的两个关键过程:理解和使用。特别是,我们研究了在自由范围的煤烟芒果中进行共和异特定报警呼叫识别的发展,Cercocebusatys,跨越三个年龄组:青少年(1-2岁),老年青少年(3-4y)和成人(>5y)。我们观察到,在自然捕食者相遇期间,青少年警报召唤的物种范围比成年人大得多,在生命的头四年里有精致的证据。在实验中,我们让受试者接触豹子,其他小组成员或同伴戴安娜猴子发出的鹰和蛇警报。我们发现,青少年的运动和声音反应是最不合适的,他们比老年人参与更多的社会参考(当听到警报呼叫时看看成年人),这表明发声能力是通过社会学习获得的。总之,我们的结果表明,报警电话理解是在青少年阶段学会的,在适当的用法之前有理解,但在学习自己或其他物种的报警电话之间没有区别。
■在自然条件下,动物不仅与自己物种的成员互动,但通常在相关物种网络中运作。然而,关于灵长类动物交流的个体发育研究经常忽略这一重要因素。我们研究了野生黑烟芒果中的共种和异质报警呼叫识别的发展。我们发现交际能力是在青少年阶段获得的,在适当的语音使用之前进行警报呼叫理解学习,并且在共和和异特定信号的学习中没有明显差异。我们还发现,在生命的早期阶段,社会参考,一种积极的社会学习形式,是获得称职的报警呼叫行为的关键。我们的结果表明,灵长类动物在生命的早期阶段同样学会解释来自自己和其他物种的警报呼叫,并且随着动物的成熟,这种学习过程得到了完善。
■在线版本包含补充材料,可在10.1007/s00265-023-03318-6获得。
UNASSIGNED: Primates understand the meaning of their own and other species\' alarm calls, but little is known about how they acquire such knowledge. Here, we combined direct behavioural observations with playback experiments to investigate two key processes underlying vocal development: comprehension and usage. Especifically, we studied the development of con- and heterospecific alarm call recognition in free-ranging sooty mangabeys, Cercocebus atys, across three age groups: young juveniles (1-2y), old juveniles (3-4y) and adults (> 5y). We observed that, during natural predator encounters, juveniles alarm called to a significantly wider range of species than adults, with evidence of refinement during the first four years of life. In the experiments, we exposed subjects to leopard, eagle and snake alarm calls given by other group members or sympatric Diana monkeys. We found that young juveniles\' locomotor and vocal responses were least appropriate and that they engaged in more social referencing (look at adults when hearing an alarm call) than older individuals, suggesting that vocal competence is obtained via social learning. In conclusion, our results suggest that alarm call comprehension is socially learned during the juvenile stage, with comprehension preceding appropriate usage but no difference between learning their own or other species\' alarm calls.
UNASSIGNED: Under natural conditions, animals do not just interact with members of their own species, but usually operate in a network of associated species. However, ontogenetic research on primate communication frequently ignores this significant element. We studied the development of con- and heterospecific alarm call recognition in wild sooty mangabeys. We found that communicative competence was acquired during the juvenile stages, with alarm call comprehension learning preceding appropriate vocal usage and with no clear difference in learning of con- and heterospecific signals. We also found that, during early stages of life, social referencing, a proactive form of social learning, was key in the acquisition of competent alarm call behaviour. Our results show that primates equally learn to interpret alarm calls from their own and other species during their early stages of life and that this learning process is refined as the animals mature.
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00265-023-03318-6.