Referential alarm calling behaviour in New World primates  

作　　者：Cristiane CASAR Klaus ZUBERBOHLER 

机构地区：[1]Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews. St Mary's Quad, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, UK, KY16 9JP [2]Conservation, Ecology and Animal Behaviour Group, Department of Post-Graduate Studies in Zoology, Pr6dio 41, Pontificia Universidade Cat61ica de Minas Gerais, Av. Dom Jos6 Gaspar 500, Cora~o Eucarfstico, 30535-610, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil [3]Cognitive Science Centre, Rue Emile Argand 11, University of Neuch~tel, Neuch~tel, Switzerland

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2012年第5期680-697,共18页动物学报（英文版）

摘　　要：There is relatively good evidence that non-human primates can communicate about objects and events in their envi- ronment in ways that allow recipients to draw inferences about the nature of the event experienced by the signaller. In some spe- cies, there is also evidence that the basic semantic units are not individual calls, but call sequences and the combinations gener- ated by them. These two findings are relevant to theories pertaining to the origins of human language because of the resemblances of these phenomena with linguistic reference and syntactic organisation. Until recently, however, most research efforts on the primate origins of human language have involved Old World species with comparatively few systematic studies on New World monkeys, which has prevented insights into the deeper phylogenetic roots and evolutionary origins of language-relevant capaci- ties. To address this, we review the older primate literature and very recent evidence for functionally referential communication and call combinations in New World primates. Within the existing literature there is ample evidence in both Callitrichids and Ce- bids for acoustically distinct call variants given to external disturbances that are accompanied by distinct behavioural responses. A general pattern is that one call type is typically produced in response to a wide range of general disturbances, often on the ground but also including inter-group encounters, while another call type is produced in response to a much narrower range of aerial threats. This pattern is already described for Old World monkeys and Prosimians, suggesting an early evolutionary origin. Second, recent work with black-fronted tiff monkeys has produced evidence for different alarm call sequences consisting of acoustically distinct call types. These sequences appear to encode several aspects of the predation event simultaneously, notably predator type and location. Since meaningful call sequences have already been described in Old World primates, we suggest that basic combi-

关 键 词：Primate alarm calls Functionally referential calls Call combinations New World monkeys Old World monkeys 

分 类 号：TP39[自动化与计算机技术—计算机应用技术] Q959.848[自动化与计算机技术—计算机科学与技术]