Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Antiphonal Responses to Loud Contact Calls Produced by Saguinus oedipus

  • Published:
International Journal of Primatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We report the results of an experiment designed to investigate whether captive cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) selectively call back to an absent cagemate. We removed 2 individuals living in separate cages (cycling through the colony so that each individual was removed 10 times) from the homeroom and played back calls produced by one of them. The caller's cagemate, residing in the homeroom, was more likely to be the first individual to call back antiphonally than any other individual in the colony was. In support of previous work using both habituation-discrimination and phonotaxic techniques, our results show that cotton-top tamarins can recognize cagemates and possibly individuals by voice alone, and that the antiphonal playback method provides yet another tool for investigating acoustic perception in nonhuman primates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Cleveland, J., and Snowdon, C. T. (1982). The complex vocal repertoire of the adult cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus oedipus). Z. Tierpsychol. 58: 231-270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghazanfar, A. A., Flombaum, J. I., and Hauser, M. D. (manuscript in preparation). Sex and volubility in cotton-top tamarins: An experimental study of long calling behavior.

  • Harcourt, A. H., Stewart, K., and Hauser, M. D. (1993). The social use of vocalizations by gorillas: I. Social behaviour and vocal repertoire. Behaviour 124: 89-122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jorgensen, D., and French, J. A. (1998). Individuality but not stability in marmoset long calls. Ethology 104: 729-742.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, P. K., and Dabelsteen, T. (1996). Communication networks. In Kroodsma, D. E., and Miller, E. H. (ed.), Ecology and Evolution of Acoustic Communication in Birds, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NC0, pp. 409-425.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, C. T., Miller, J., Gil da Costa, R., and Hauser, M. D. (2001). Selective phonotaxis by cotton-top tamarins. Behaviour 138: 811-826.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitani, J. C., and Stuht, J. (1998). The evolution of nonhuman primate loud calls: Acoustic adaptation for long-distance transmission. Primates 39: 171-182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norcross, J. L., and Newman, J. D. (1993). Context and gender-specific differences in the acoustic structure of common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) phee calls. Am. J. Primatol. 30, 37-54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owings, D. H., and Morton, E. S. (1998). Animal Vocal Communication: A New Approach, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UC0.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rendall, D., Seyfarth, R. M., Cheney, D. L., and Owren, M. J. (1999). The meaning and function of grunt variants in baboons. Anim. Behav. 57: 583-592.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snowdon, C. T., and Cleveland, J. (1980). Individual recognition of contact calls by pygmy marmosets. Anim. Behav. 28: 717-727.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snowdon, C. T., Cleveland, J., and French, J. A. (1983). Responses to context-and individual-specific cues in cotton-top tamarin long calls. Anim. Behav. 31: 92-101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waser, P. M. (1982). The evolution of male loud calls among mangabeys and baboons. In Snowdon, C. T., Brown, C. H., and Petersen, M. R. (eds.), Primate Communication, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 117-143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, D. J., Garibaldi, B. T., and Hauser, M. D. (2001). The production and perception of long calls in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus): Acoustic analyses and playback experiments. J. Comp. Psychol. 115: 258-271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, D. J., and Hauser, M. D. (2002). Perception of harmonics in the combination long call of cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). Anim. Behav. 64(3): 415-426.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, M., and King, A. (1996). Eco-gen-atics: A systems approach to the ontogeny of avian communication. In Kroodsma, D. E., and Miller, E. H. (eds), Ecology and Evolution of Acoustic Communication in Birds, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NC0, pp. 20-38.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Duke University, USA

    Kerry Jordan & Marc Hauser

  2. Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, USA

    Daniel Weiss & Bob McMurray

  3. Department of Psychology and Program in Neurosciences, Harvard University, USA

    Marc Hauser

Authors
  1. Kerry Jordan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniel Weiss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marc Hauser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bob McMurray
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jordan, K., Weiss, D., Hauser, M. et al. Antiphonal Responses to Loud Contact Calls Produced by Saguinus oedipus . International Journal of Primatology 25, 465–475 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:IJOP.0000019162.31244.88

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:IJOP.0000019162.31244.88

Search

Navigation