Dataset Information

Sociality predicts orangutan vocal phenotype.

ABSTRACT: In humans, individuals' social setting determines which and how language is acquired. Social seclusion experiments show that sociality also guides vocal development in songbirds and marmoset monkeys, but absence of similar great ape data has been interpreted as support to saltational notions for language origin, even if such laboratorial protocols are unethical with great apes. Here we characterize the repertoire entropy of orangutan individuals and show that in the wild, different degrees of sociality across populations are associated with different 'vocal personalities' in the form of distinct regimes of alarm call variants. In high-density populations, individuals are vocally more original and acoustically unpredictable but new call variants are short lived, whereas individuals in low-density populations are more conformative and acoustically consistent but also exhibit more complex call repertoires. Findings provide non-invasive evidence that sociality predicts vocal phenotype in a wild great ape. They prove false hypotheses that discredit great apes as having hardwired vocal development programmes and non-plastic vocal behaviour. Social settings mould vocal output in hominids besides humans.

SUBMITTER: Lameira AR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9085614 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Sociality predicts orangutan vocal phenotype.

Lameira Adriano R AR Santamaría-Bonfil Guillermo G Galeone Deborah D Gamba Marco M Hardus Madeleine E ME Knott Cheryl D CD Morrogh-Bernard Helen H Nowak Matthew G MG Campbell-Smith Gail G Wich Serge A SA

Nature ecology & evolution 20220321 5

In humans, individuals' social setting determines which and how language is acquired. Social seclusion experiments show that sociality also guides vocal development in songbirds and marmoset monkeys, but absence of similar great ape data has been interpreted as support to saltational notions for language origin, even if such laboratorial protocols are unethical with great apes. Here we characterize the repertoire entropy of orangutan individuals and show that in the wild, different degrees of so ...[more]

PMID: 35314786

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Project description:The evolution of sociality is related to many ecological factors that act on animals as selective forces, thus driving the formation of groups. Group size will depend on the payoffs of group living. The Social Complexity Hypothesis for Communication (SCHC) predicts that increases in group size will be related to increases in the complexity of the communication among individuals. This hypothesis, which was confirmed in some mammal societies, may be useful to trace sociality in the spotted paca (Cuniculus paca), a Neotropical caviomorph rodent reported as solitary. There are, however, sightings of groups in the wild, and farmers easily form groups of spotted paca in captivity. Thus, we aimed to describe the acoustic repertoire of captive spotted paca to test the SCHC and to obtain insights about the sociability of this species. Moreover, we aimed to verify the relationship between group size and acoustic repertoire size of caviomorph rodents, to better understand the evolution of sociality in this taxon. We predicted that spotted paca should display a complex acoustic repertoire, given their social behavior in captivity and group sightings in the wild. We also predicted that in caviomorph species the group size would increase with acoustic repertoire, supporting the SCHC. We performed a Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) based on acoustic parameters of the vocalizations recorded. In addition, we applied an independent contrasts approach to investigate sociality in spotted paca following the social complexity hypothesis, independent of phylogeny. Our analysis showed that the spotted paca's acoustic repertoire contains seven vocal types and one mechanical signal. The broad acoustic repertoire of the spotted paca might have evolved given the species' ability to live in groups. The relationship between group size and the size of the acoustic repertoires of caviomorph species was confirmed, providing additional support for the SCHC in yet another group of diverse mammals-caviomorph rodents.

Dataset Information

Sociality predicts orangutan vocal phenotype.

Publications

Sociality predicts orangutan vocal phenotype.

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