Female social relationships in a captive group of Campbell's monkeys (<i>Cercopithecus campbelli campbelli</i>)

Lemasson, Alban; Blois‐Heulin, Catherine; Jubin, Ronan; Hausberger, Martine

doi:10.1002/ajp.20315

Cited by 25 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In forest guenons, the single adult male of the group mainly vocalizes in response to predators and other significant external disturbances (5,48,53). Females are vocally active in social situations (44)(45)(46) and to predators to which they produce a diverse alarm call repertoire that encodes information about predator type and level of threat (47).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Campbell's monkeys concatenate vocalizations into context-specific call sequences

Ouattara

Lemasson

Zuberbühler

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Primate vocal behavior is often considered irrelevant in modeling human language evolution, mainly because of the caller's limited vocal control and apparent lack of intentional signaling. Here, we present the results of a long-term study on Campbell's monkeys, which has revealed an unrivaled degree of vocal complexity. Adult males produced six different loud call types, which they combined into various sequences in highly context-specific ways. We found stereotyped sequences that were strongly associated with cohesion and travel, falling trees, neighboring groups, nonpredatory animals, unspecific predatory threat, and specific predator classes. Within the responses to predators, we found that crowned eagles triggered four and leopards three different sequences, depending on how the caller learned about their presence. Callers followed a number of principles when concatenating sequences, such as nonrandom transition probabilities of call types, addition of specific calls into an existing sequence to form a different one, or recombination of two sequences to form a third one. We conclude that these primates have overcome some of the constraints of limited vocal control by combinatorial organization. As the different sequences were so tightly linked to specific external events, the Campbell's monkey call system may be the most complex example of 'proto-syntax' in animal communication known to date. alarm call ͉ nonhuman primate ͉ referential communication ͉ semantic ͉ syntax

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Campbell's monkeys concatenate vocalizations into context-specific call sequences

Ouattara

Lemasson

Zuberbühler

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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271

191

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“…In both cases, researchers evaluated interactions among all group members, not just adult females. In Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli), there were more frequent affiliative interactions within each of two all-female matrilines (either a set of sisters, or a mother and multiple daughters) than there were between them [Lemasson et al, 2006]. The measure of affiliation included both grooming and proximity measures.…”

Section: Kin Bias In Grooming and Spatial Associationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal kin bias in affiliative behavior among wild adult female blue monkeys

Cords

Nikitopoulos

2014

American J Primatol

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Kin-biased cooperative and affiliative behavior is widespread in social mammals and is expected to increase fitness. However, despite evolutionary benefits of cooperating with relatives, demographic circumstances may influence the strength of kin bias. We studied the relationship between maternal kinship and affiliative behavior among 78 wild adult female blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) from 8 groups monitored for 1-5 years. We compared behavior and kinship matrices, controlling for rank differences. Using multivariate models, we examined effects of demographic variables on the extent to which females groomed disproportionately with close adult female kin. Female blue monkeys, like other cercopithecine primates, generally preferred closer maternal kin for grooming and spatial association, although there was also substantial variation. Kin bias was weakest for association (at 7 m) while feeding, intermediate for closer (1 m) association while resting, and most intense for grooming. Grooming kin bias was stronger when a female had more very close relatives (either her mother or daughters), when her group contained more adult females, when she groomed with a lower percentage of group-mates, and when she had fewer total kin. Dominance rank did not predict variation in kin bias. Females generally groomed with all kin, but in larger groups they increased the number of unrelated grooming partners and total grooming time. The increased kin bias intensity in larger groups resulted from the addition of unrelated partners with whom grooming occurred less often than with kin, rather than from time constraints that drove females to select kin more strongly. In natural-sized groups, it may be common that females groom with all their adult female kin, which are present in limited numbers. The addition of grooming partners in larger groups may benefit female blue monkeys who rely on collective action in territorial defense; group-wide cooperation may thus influence grooming decisions in this species.

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“…Our general predic-tions were that the monkeys would select anti-predator strategies suitable to the forest habitat, take into account the different predator types and their associated hunting techniques, the momentary degree of threat, as well as their own vulnerability. In particular, based on the sexual dimorphism and previously described sex differences in guenon behaviour (Gautier & GautierHion, 1977;Lemasson et al, 2006), we predicted that the single male would play a more active role in predator defence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The species is interesting because many of the variables discussed before have relevance, such as a dense forest habitat with high degree of arboreal locomotion (Mc Graw, 1996), different types of natural predators (Jenny & Zuberbühler, 2005;Shultz & Thomsett, 2007), complex social life (Lemasson et al, 2006;Buzzard & Eckardt, 2007) and sexual dimorphism (males, 5.5 kg; females, 3.5 kg: Glenn & Bensen, 1998). Males and females also differ in terms of their vocal behaviour (Zuberbühler, 2001;Ouattara et al, 2009 and data not shown).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anti-predator strategies of free-ranging Campbell's monkeys

Ouattara¹,

Lemasson²,

Zuberbühler³

2009

Behav

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SummaryHabitat type, predation pressure and reproductive interests are all thought to determine the anti-predator behaviour of non-primates, but only few systematic studies exist. Here, we experimentally elicited anti-predator behaviour in six different groups of forest-living Campbell's monkeys, using visual and acoustic models of leopards, crowned eagles, and snakes. Individuals produced a variety of anti-predator behaviours, depending on the type of predator and whether or not it was visible. Adult males generally behaved conspicuously, either by attacking eagles or producing threat behaviours at a distance to leopards. Adult females remained cryptic to eagles, but joined their male in approaching leopards. To snakes, both males and females responded strongly to familiar Gaboon vipers, but far less to unfamiliar black mambas. Finally, if a predator could only be heard, both males and females produced fewer alarm calls and often changed their vertical position in the canopy (upwards for leopards; downwards for eagles), despite all predator vocalisations being presented from the ground. We concluded that Campbell's monkeys display sex-specific anti-predator behaviours, which are largely driven by the predators' hunting techniques, mode of predator detection and the forest habitat structure.

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Female social relationships in a captive group of Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli campbelli)

Cited by 25 publications

References 28 publications

Campbell's monkeys concatenate vocalizations into context-specific call sequences

Campbell's monkeys concatenate vocalizations into context-specific call sequences

Maternal kin bias in affiliative behavior among wild adult female blue monkeys

Anti-predator strategies of free-ranging Campbell's monkeys

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