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A novel attention-getting vocalization in zoo-housed western gorillas
As a critical aspect of language, vocal learning is extremely rare in animals, having only been described in a few distantly related species. New evidence, however, extends vocal learning/innovation to the primate order, with zoo-housed chimpanzees and orangutans producing novel vocal signals to att...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9365142/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35947550 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271871 |
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author | Salmi, Roberta Szczupider, Monica Carrigan, Jodi |
author_facet | Salmi, Roberta Szczupider, Monica Carrigan, Jodi |
author_sort | Salmi, Roberta |
collection | PubMed |
description | As a critical aspect of language, vocal learning is extremely rare in animals, having only been described in a few distantly related species. New evidence, however, extends vocal learning/innovation to the primate order, with zoo-housed chimpanzees and orangutans producing novel vocal signals to attract the attention of familiar human caregivers. If the ability to produce novel vocalizations as a means of navigating evolutionarily novel circumstances spans the Hominidae family, then we can expect to find evidence for it in the family’s third genus, Gorilla. To explore this possibility, we conduct an experiment with eight gorillas from Zoo Atlanta to examine whether they use species-atypical vocalizations to get the attention of humans across three different conditions: just a human, just food, or a human holding food. Additionally, we survey gorilla keepers from other AZA-member zoos to compile a list of common attention-getting signals used by the gorillas in their care. Our experiment results indicated that Zoo Atlanta gorillas vocalized most often during the human-food condition, with the most frequently used vocal signal being a species-atypical sound somewhere between a sneeze and a cough (n = 28). This previously undescribed sound is acoustically different from other calls commonly produced during feeding (i.e., single grunts and food-associated calls). Our survey and analyses of recordings from other zoos confirmed that this novel attention-getting sound is not unique to Zoo Atlanta, although further work should be done to better determine the extent and patterns of transmission and/or potential independent innovation of this sound across captive gorilla populations. These findings represent one of the few pieces of evidence of spontaneous novel vocal production in non-enculturated individuals of this species, supporting the inclusion of great apes as moderate vocal learners and perhaps demonstrating an evolutionary function to a flexible vocal repertoire. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9365142 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-93651422022-08-11 A novel attention-getting vocalization in zoo-housed western gorillas Salmi, Roberta Szczupider, Monica Carrigan, Jodi PLoS One Research Article As a critical aspect of language, vocal learning is extremely rare in animals, having only been described in a few distantly related species. New evidence, however, extends vocal learning/innovation to the primate order, with zoo-housed chimpanzees and orangutans producing novel vocal signals to attract the attention of familiar human caregivers. If the ability to produce novel vocalizations as a means of navigating evolutionarily novel circumstances spans the Hominidae family, then we can expect to find evidence for it in the family’s third genus, Gorilla. To explore this possibility, we conduct an experiment with eight gorillas from Zoo Atlanta to examine whether they use species-atypical vocalizations to get the attention of humans across three different conditions: just a human, just food, or a human holding food. Additionally, we survey gorilla keepers from other AZA-member zoos to compile a list of common attention-getting signals used by the gorillas in their care. Our experiment results indicated that Zoo Atlanta gorillas vocalized most often during the human-food condition, with the most frequently used vocal signal being a species-atypical sound somewhere between a sneeze and a cough (n = 28). This previously undescribed sound is acoustically different from other calls commonly produced during feeding (i.e., single grunts and food-associated calls). Our survey and analyses of recordings from other zoos confirmed that this novel attention-getting sound is not unique to Zoo Atlanta, although further work should be done to better determine the extent and patterns of transmission and/or potential independent innovation of this sound across captive gorilla populations. These findings represent one of the few pieces of evidence of spontaneous novel vocal production in non-enculturated individuals of this species, supporting the inclusion of great apes as moderate vocal learners and perhaps demonstrating an evolutionary function to a flexible vocal repertoire. Public Library of Science 2022-08-10 /pmc/articles/PMC9365142/ /pubmed/35947550 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271871 Text en © 2022 Salmi et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Salmi, Roberta Szczupider, Monica Carrigan, Jodi A novel attention-getting vocalization in zoo-housed western gorillas |
title | A novel attention-getting vocalization in zoo-housed western gorillas |
title_full | A novel attention-getting vocalization in zoo-housed western gorillas |
title_fullStr | A novel attention-getting vocalization in zoo-housed western gorillas |
title_full_unstemmed | A novel attention-getting vocalization in zoo-housed western gorillas |
title_short | A novel attention-getting vocalization in zoo-housed western gorillas |
title_sort | novel attention-getting vocalization in zoo-housed western gorillas |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9365142/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35947550 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271871 |
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