Abstract
Many group-living animals coordinate movements with acoustic signals, but so far most studies have focused on how group movements are initiated. In this study, we investigated movement patterns of wild sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys), a mostly terrestrial, forest-dwelling primate. We provide quantitative results showing that vocalization rates of mangabey subgroups, but not of focal individuals, correlated with focal individuals' current movement patterns. More interestingly, vocal behaviour predicted whether individuals changed future speed, and possibly future travel direction. The role of vocalizations as a potential mechanism for the regulation of group movement was further highlighted by interaction effects that include subgroup size and the quality of poly-specific associations. Collectively, our results suggest that primate vocal behaviour can function beyond travel initiation in coordination and regulation of group movements.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e2298 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | PeerJ |
| Volume | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Jul 2016 |
Keywords
- Cercocebus atys
- Group cohesion
- Group movement
- Poly-specific association
- Sooty mangabey
- Vocal communication
Access to Document
- Zuberbuehler_2016_PeerJ_SootyMangabey_CC
© 2016 Neumann & Zuberbühler. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.