Production of and responses to unimodal and multimodal signals in wild chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii
Section snippets
Study Site and Subjects
This study was carried out in Kibale National Park, located in western Uganda (0″13′–0″41′N and 30″19′–30″32′E) in 2013–2015. A detailed description of the characteristics of the forest can be found in Chapman and Wrangham (1993). The study animals were a wild group of chimpanzees, the Kanyawara community. In 2013, the group comprised approximately 57 individuals (Muller & Wrangham, 2014), and occupied a home range of around 16.4 km2 (Wilson, Kahlenberg, Wells, & Wrangham, 2012). The community
MM Signals: Repertoire, Rates and Responses
Overall, the results show that across rest, feed and groom contexts MM signals were rare relative to UM signals (see Fig. 1). Free MM signals were, however, produced by 22 of the 26 focal individuals, and we recorded a total of 48 different free MM signals, consisting of combinations that in total included six different facial expressions, nine different vocalizations and 16 different gestures (see detailed MM repertoire in Supplementary Table S3). Vocal-gestural combinations were the most
Discussion
Although MM signals may not be as common as UM signals, this study has documented the production of 48 different free MM combinations. While 22 of 26 individuals produced at least one free MM signal, each broad type of MM signal combination was observed to be produced by at least nine of the 26 focal individuals. This suggests that the vast majority of individuals have the capacity and motivation to flexibly and simultaneously combine signals from different modalities, albeit rarely. In the
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the directors of Kibale Chimpanzee Project for permitting and supporting us to carry out this research on the Kanyawara community of chimpanzees. We are also thankful to the KCP field manager Emily Otali and the KCP field assistants, Dan Akaruhanga, Seezi Atwijuze, Sunday John, Richard Karamagi, James Kyomuhendo, Francis Mugurusi, Solomon Musana and Wilberforce Tweheyo, for their valuable assistance and support in the field. We thank Simon Townsend for statistical advice, and
References (59)
A new notation system of object manipulation in the nesting-cup task for chimpanzees and humans
Cortex
(2007)- et al.
Female responses to isolated signals from multimodal male courtship displays in the wolf spider genus Schizocosa (Araneae: Lycosidae)
Animal Behaviour
(1999) - et al.
Colour, size and movement as visual subcomponents in multimodal communication by the frog Allobates femoralis
Animal Behaviour
(2010) - et al.
Mortality rates among Kanyawara chimpanzees
Journal of Human Evolution
(2014) - et al.
Wild tree squirrels respond with multisensory enhancement to conspecific robot alarm behaviour
Animal Behaviour
(2009) Receiver psychology and the evolution of multicomponent signals
Animal Behaviour
(1999)- et al.
Chimpanzee food calls are directed at specific individuals
Animal Behaviour
(2013) - et al.
The language void: The need for multimodality in primate communication research
Animal Behaviour
(2011) - et al.
Functionally referential communication in a chimpanzee
Current Biology
(2005) - et al.
Food-associated calls in chimpanzees: Responses to food types or food preferences?
Animal Behaviour
(2006)