Utilising Drone Technology in Primatology for 3D Mapping

Emergent Unmanned Aerial System (or drone) technology allows the 3-dimensional mapping of forest landscapes, allowing a new perspective of arboreal primate habitat use. Utilising UASs in primatological studies enables the assessment of habitat quality for different arboreal primate species, the identification of discreet forms of anthropogenic disturbance (such as historical selective logging), and detailed investigation of canopy use by arboreal primate species. Combining 3D canopy structure with microclimate measurements, we can see how canopy structure buffers solar radiation and how arboreal species may be affected by future climate change. We present data on a study of the arboreal primate community in a lowland section of the Gunung Leuser Ecosystem in northern Sumatra, focusing on how 3D canopy structure effects ranging (siamang, Symphalangus syndactylus), different primate species’ population densities (lar gibbon, Hylobates lar, siamang and Thomas langur, Presbytis thomasi) and habitat selection (orang-utan, Pongo abelii and siamang) and how UAS technology can be utilised in other future studies; the potential opportunities, challenges and pitfalls

Age and social affinity effects on contact call interactions in free-ranging spider monkeys

International audienceNonhuman primates’ vocal repertoire has shown little plasticity, with immatures producing adult-like acoustic structures. Yet, the use of different call types shows a degree of socially dependent flexibility during development. In several nonhuman primate species, group members exchange contact calls respecting a set of social and temporal rules that may be learned (e.g., overlap avoidance, turn-taking, social selection of interacting partners, and call type matching). Here, we study the use of contact calls in free-living adult and immature (old and young) spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi). We focused our study in two contact call types of the species’ repertoire: whinnies and high-whinnies. Our results suggest that individuals in all age classes produced both call types, with immatures producing less frequently the whinny call type. Immature individuals exchanged calls less often than adults, although their contribution increased with age. Conversely, mature individuals regulated their emissions by (1) exchanging more calls with their preferred affiliative partner and (2) matching the call type, while immatures did not. Our results show that contact call usage changes during development and suggest that adult rules might be learned. We argue that call matching is a “conversational rule” that young individuals acquire with apparent call-type-dependent variations during development. Our findings support the idea that social factors influence vocal development in nonhuman primates

Dominance style is a key predictor of vocal use and evolution across nonhuman primates

Animal communication has long been thought to be subject to pressures and constraints associated with social relationships. However, our understanding of how the nature and quality of social relationships relates to the use and evolution of communication is limited by a lack of directly comparable methods across multiple levels of analysis. Here, we analysed observational data from 111 wild groups belonging to 26 non-human primate species, to test how vocal communication relates to dominance style (the strictness with which a dominance hierarchy is enforced, ranging from 'despotic' to 'tolerant'). At the individual-level, we found that dominant individuals who were more tolerant vocalized at a higher rate than their despotic counterparts. This indicates that tolerance within a relationship may place pressure on the dominant partner to communicate more during social interactions. At the species-level, however, despotic species exhibited a larger repertoire of hierarchy-related vocalizations than their tolerant counterparts. Findings suggest primate signals are used and evolve in tandem with the nature of interactions that characterize individuals' social relationships.publishe

Dominance style is a key predictor of vocal use and evolution across nonhuman primates

Animal communication has long been thought to be subject to pressures and constraints associated with social relationships. However, our understanding of how the nature and quality of social relationships relates to the use and evolution of communication is limited by a lack of directly comparable methods across multiple levels of analysis. Here, we analysed observational data from 111 wild groups belonging to 26 non-human primate species, to test how vocal communication relates to dominance style (the strictness with which a dominance hierarchy is enforced, ranging from ‘despotic’ to ‘tolerant’). At the individual-level, we found that dominant individuals who were more tolerant vocalized at a higher rate than their despotic counterparts. This indicates that tolerance within a relationship may place pressure on the dominant partner to communicate more during social interactions. At the species-level, however, despotic species exhibited a larger repertoire of hierarchyrelated vocalizations than their tolerant counterparts. Findings suggest primate signals are used and evolve in tandem with the nature of interactions that characterize individuals’ social relationships.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsosMammal Research Institut

Dominance style is a key predictor of vocal use and evolution across nonhuman primates

Animal communication has long been thought to be subject to pressures and constraints associated with social relationships. However, our understanding of how the nature and quality of social relationships relates to the use and evolution of communication is limited by a lack of directly comparable methods across multiple levels of analysis. Here, we analysed observational data from 111 wild groups belonging to 26 non-human primate species, to test how vocal communication relates to dominance style (the strictness with which a dominance hierarchy is enforced, ranging from ‘despotic’ to ‘tolerant’). At the individual-level, we found that dominant individuals who were more tolerant vocalized at a higher rate than their despotic counterparts. This indicates that tolerance within a relationship may place pressure on the dominant partner to communicate more during social interactions. At the species-level, however, despotic species exhibited a larger repertoire of hierarchy-related vocalizations than their tolerant counterparts. Findings suggest primate signals are used and evolve in tandem with the nature of interactions that characterize individuals' social relationships