Many have tried teaching chimpanzees and other apes sign language in order to break the barrier of human and ape communication. Though the apes are able to learn signs, scientist still don't consider them to learn the language and in some cases not even aware of context.
New discoveries however are showing that Chimpanzees are aware of the social impact of their communication. The study has been in process observing the Sonso chimps of Uganda undisturbed since 1990.
In the case of the pant grunt call (which means that one ape is subordinate to another ape), scientist were lead to believe that the pant grunt call was specifically and only used for declaring rank among the group. But through years of study they found more than just acoustic variation within the pant grunt and other calls of the chimps. The researchers found that female chimps modify their use of the pant grunt signal depending on which other chimps are listening. If the alpha male was in earshot, the female chimps often refused to greet another male. The presence of the alpha female also inhibited lower ranking chimps from communicating.
This is where the interpretation is still being found. Some scientist believe they don't want to start a fight or provoke an aggressive male by talking to another, some believe that certain females will talk to certain males in order to bring their ranking up amongst the group.
Prof Zuberbuhler is the leading scientist for this running experiment and he goes to say this:
"Monitoring the effects of one's own communication signals on the audience is a key component in this process. The current study shows that chimpanzees do the same, thus revealing some of the evolutionary roots of a key capacity required for language in our closest living relative. Our common ancestor which lived some six million years ago must have been able to do the same."
If what these scientist found is true, then what other apes can communicate like us?
-Peter Lucas
It's fascinating to observe the presence of a social order and how it affects communication in these chimpanzees. You mentioned how some scientists believe that certain females talk to lower ranked males just to bring their ranking up, why is this and does it cause turmoil in the group? Also, could the female choose the lower ranked male solely based on selection/attraction?
ReplyDeleteKevin Tse
Very interesting post! The picture is adorable! It is really interesting that females might not communicate in order to prevent males from fighting. When females do choose to communicate with lower ranked males does it cause fights? How is the female benefited by raising the status of a subordinate male?
ReplyDeletePosted by: Sara Weaver
Amazing that this ability of audience monitoring in chimps probably means it existed in our ancestors. I wonder if the same is true for other primates? Perhaps the males also variation in their calls when the alpha male was not around or even other subordinate males that they liked.
ReplyDeletePosted by Daniel Solomon
This is a very interesting finding as it may point to the roots of the acquisition of language. At some point in time our primate ancestors developed a language acquisition device that was wired with the brain. Certain regions of the brain are dedicated for language. Do you think these apes may have similar neural pathways for language as humans?
ReplyDelete-Himanshu
Thats pretty interesting. I knew monkeys had a lot of typesof communication but I didnt know that females have learned to not communicate in the prescence of an alpha male. Is it because if he sees her communicating with a lower male e wont approach her? It kinda makes sense. She probably wouldnt want to mess up her chances to mate with the best male in the population.
ReplyDelete-Katie Cyr
When a female brings up the rank of certain males do they often end up mating, or do the females have other reasons for doing it?
ReplyDeleteCharles Carville