Experimental evidence for heterospecific alarm signal recognition via associative learning in wild capuchin monkeys.

ABSTRACT: Many vertebrate taxa respond to heterospecific alarm calls with anti-predator behaviours. While it is unclear how apparent recognition is achieved, learned associations between the occurrence of the call and the presence of a predator are considered the most likely explanation. Conclusive evidence that this behaviour is indeed underpinned by learning, however, is scarce. This study tested whether wild black capuchin monkeys (Sapajus nigritus) learn to associate novel sounds with predators through a two-phase field experiment. During an initial training phase, three study groups were each presented with a playback of one of the three novel sounds together with a simulated felid predator on four occasions over an 8- to 12-week period. This was followed by a test phase, wherein each of the th

SUBMITTER: Wheeler BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6687673 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature