IMAGE: Pied tamarin (Saguinus bicolor) - photograph by Tainara Sobroza
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Please credit Tainara Sobroza
New research has discovered that monkeys will use the accent of another species when they enter its territory to help them better understand one another and potentially avoid conflict.
Published in the journal
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, the study is the first to show asymmetric call convergence in primates, meaning that one species chooses to adopt another species call patterns to communicate.
The study, co-authored by Dr Jacob Dunn of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), investigated the behaviour of 15 groups of pied tamarins (Saguinus bicolor) and red-handed tamarins (Saguinus midas) in the Brazilian Amazon.
Scientists examined the behaviour of 15 groups of two types of tamarin monkeys in the Brazilian Amazon.
Red-handed tamarins adopt the long calls used by pied tamarins when they enter their territory, according to the study.
Red-handed tamarins, which are found throughout the north-eastern Amazon region, have greater vocal flexibility and use calls more often than pied tamarins.
Red-handed tamarins adopt the long calls used by pied tamarins when they enter their territory, possibly to avoid conflict, a study suggests (Viviane Costa/PA)
Pied tamarins are critically endangered and have one of the smallest ranges of any primate in the world, much of it around the city of Manaus.
Scientists examined the behaviour of 15 groups of two types of tamarin monkeys in the Brazilian Amazon.
Red-handed tamarins adopt the long calls used by pied tamarins when they enter their territory, according to the study.
Red-handed tamarins, which are found throughout the north-eastern Amazon region, have greater vocal flexibility and use calls more often than pied tamarins.
Red-handed tamarins adopt the long calls used by pied tamarins when they enter their territory, possibly to avoid conflict, a study suggests (Viviane Costa/PA)
Pied tamarins are critically endangered and have one of the smallest ranges of any primate in the world, much of it around the city of Manaus.