idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
What are the fundamentals of human language, and what similarities exist in the communication systems of other primates? Researchers around the world have been exploring these questions for decades. A new study from the University of Osnabrück now provides further insights: The research team examined the communication of wild white-tufted marmosets in northeastern Brazil, a primate species that, like humans, raises its young cooperatively. They found that the animals exhibit several fundamental characteristics of human conversational organization. The findings have now been published in the journal “Scientific Reports.”
“Our analyses show that white-tufted marmosets do not exchange vocalizations randomly, but rather communicate according to clear rules,” says lead author Dr. Filipa Abreu of the University of Osnabrück and the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil. The study was led by Prof. Dr. Simone Pika of the Institute for Cognitive Science at the University of Osnabrück and conducted in collaboration with Nicola Schiel of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco and Antonio Souto of the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.
For the study, the team examined four neighboring groups and recorded 1,245 vocal interactions between the animals. They found that white-tufted marmosets frequently engage in longer “conversations” in which the animals take turns and often use the same type of call as their interaction partner. There was usually only about 1.3 seconds between individual vocalizations. In addition, the calls and communication patterns used differed depending on whether the animals were communicating with members of their own group or with neighboring groups.
“The results suggest that this cooperative monkey species flexibly adapts its vocalizations to its conversation partners and group affiliation,” said Simone Pika and Filipa Abreu. Thus, the primates’ communication exhibits characteristics that have previously been associated primarily with human conversation.
While earlier studies have often focused primarily on individual call types or groups of animals in captivity, the current study examines the entire vocal repertoire of wild white-tufted monkeys in natural social interactions. This provides a more comprehensive picture of their communicative abilities and offers new avenues for research into the evolution of language.
Further information for the media:
Prof. Dr. Simone Pika, University of Osnabrück
Institute for Cognitive Science
Simone.pika@uni-osnabrueck.de
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-60403-2?utm_source=rct_congratemailt&...
Criteria of this press release:
Journalists
Biology, Environment / ecology, Zoology / agricultural and forest sciences
transregional, national
Research projects
English
You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.
You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).
Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.
You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).
If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).
