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Call combinations in chimpanzees : a social tool?
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Leroux, Maël, Chandia, Bosco, Bosshard, Alexandra B., Zuberbühler, Klaus and Townsend, Simon W. (2022) Call combinations in chimpanzees : a social tool? Behavioral Ecology, 33 (5). pp. 1036-1043. doi:10.1093/beheco/arac074 ISSN 1465-7279.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arac074
Abstract
A growing body of evidence suggests the capacity for animals to combine calls into larger communicative structures is more common than previously assumed. Despite its cross-taxa prevalence, little is known regarding the evolutionary pressures driving such combinatorial abilities. One dominant hypothesis posits that social complexity and vocal complexity are linked, with changes in social structuring (e.g., group size) driving the emergence of ever-more complex vocal abilities, such as call sequencing. In this paper, we tested this hypothesis through investigating combinatoriality in the vocal system of the highly social chimpanzee. Specifically, we predicted combinatoriality to be more common in socially-driven contexts and in females and lower-ranked males (socially challenging contexts and socially challenged individuals respectively). Firstly, through applying methods from computational linguistics (i.e., collocation analyses), we built an objective repertoire of combinatorial structures in this species. Second, we investigated what potential factors influenced call combination production. We show that combinatoriality is predominant in 1) social contexts vs. non-social contexts, 2) females vs. males, and 3) negatively correlates with male rank. Together, these results suggest one function of combinatoriality in chimpanzees may be to help individuals navigate their dynamic social world. More generally, we argue these findings provide support for the hypothesized link between social and vocal complexity and can provide insight into the evolution of our own highly combinatorial communication system, language.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Psychology | ||||||||
| SWORD Depositor: | Library Publications Router | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Behavioral Ecology | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press (OUP) | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 1465-7279 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | September 2022 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 33 | ||||||||
| Number: | 5 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 1036-1043 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1093/beheco/arac074 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Behavioral Ecology following peer review. The version of record Maël Leroux, Bosco Chandia, Alexandra B Bosshard, Klaus Zuberbühler, Simon W Townsend, Call combinations in chimpanzees: a social tool?, Behavioral Ecology, 2022;, arac074, is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arac074 | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 17 October 2022 | ||||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 4 August 2023 | ||||||||
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