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Zuberbühler, Klaus

Nom
Zuberbühler, Klaus
Affiliation principale
Fonction
Professeur ordinaire
Email
klaus.zuberbuehler@unine.ch
Identifiants
https://libra.unine.ch/handle/123456789/670
_
0000-0001-8378-088X

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  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Female Putty-Nosed Monkeys Use Experimentally Altered Contextual Information to Disambiguate the Cause of Male Alarm Calls
    (2013)
    Arnold, Kate
    ;
    Zuberbühler, Klaus 
    Many animal vocal signals are given in a wide range of contexts which can sometimes have little in common. Yet, to respond adaptively, listeners must find ways to identify the cause of a signal, or at least rule out alternatives. Here, we investigate the nature of this process in putty-nosed monkeys, a forest primate. In this species, adult males have a very restricted repertoire of vocalizations which are given in response to a wide variety of events occurring under conditions of limited visibility. We carried out a series of field playback experiments on females (N = 6) in a habituated group in Gashaka Gumti National Park, Nigeria, in which male alarm/loud calls were presented either alone, or following acoustic information that simulated the occurrence of natural disturbances. We demonstrate that listeners appear to integrate contextual information in order to distinguish among possible causes of calls. We conclude that, in many cases, pragmatic aspects of communication play a crucial role in call interpretation and place a premium on listeners' abilities to integrate information from different sources.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    A forest monkey’s alarm call series to predator models
    (2008)
    Arnold, Kate
    ;
    Pohlner, Yvonne
    ;
    Zuberbühler, Klaus 
    Some non-human primates produce acoustically distinct alarm calls to different predators, such as eagles or leopards. Recipients respond to these calls as if they have seen the actual predator, which has led to the notion of functionally referential alarm calls. However, in a previous study with free-ranging putty-nosed monkeys (Cercopithecus nictitans martini), we demonstrated that callers produced two acoustically distinct alarm calls to eagle shrieks and leopard growls, but both alarm calls were given to both predators. We can think of two basic explanations for this surprising result, a methodological and theoretical one. Firstly, acoustic predator models may not always be suitable to test alarm call behaviour in primates, sometimes causing uncharacteristic behaviour. Secondly, referential alarm calling may not be a universal feature of primate alarm call systems. Considering the methodological and theoretical importance of these possibilities, we conducted a follow-up study using life-sized leopard, eagle, and human models on the same population and compared the resulting vocal responses to those given to acoustic predator models. We compared the alarm call series given to each of these predator model types and found a considerable degree of consistency suggesting that the mode of presentation did not affect anti-predator calling strategies. However, evidence for audience effects on calling behaviour was inconclusive. While it appears that predator class is reliably encoded by different call series types irrespective of the mode of presentation, observations of these same call series given in non-predatory contexts indicate that predator class is unlikely to be the relevant organising principle underlying the alarm-calling behaviour in this species. We conclude by offering an alternative, non-referential, account of the alarmcalling system exhibited by this species.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    The alarm-calling system of adult male putty-nosed monkeys, Cercopithecus nictitans martini
    (2006)
    Arnold, Kate
    ;
    Zuberbühler, Klaus 
    We investigated the calls of male putty-nosed monkeys produced in response to playbacks of leopard,Panthera pardus, growls and crowned eagle, Stephanoaetus coronatus, shrieks. Two call types, hacks and pyows were produced and both occurred within alarm-calling sequences regardless of the predator category simulated by the playbacks. Unlike previous studies of alarm calling in guenon monkeys, we therefore could not conclude that the alarm calls of putty-nosed males are functionally referential. There were, however,striking regularities in the patterning of the calls given in response to these stimuli and different call combinations were strongly associated with each of the two predator types. While we concluded that individual calls did not qualify as vehicles of semantic content, these males produced structurally unique call sequences that provided sufficient information for receivers to select appropriate antipredator responses.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Pyow but not hack calls of the male putty-nosed monkey (Cercopithcus nictitans) convey information about caller identity
    Price, Tabitha
    ;
    Arnold, Kate
    ;
    Zuberbühler, Klaus 
    ;
    Semple, Stuart
    Individual differences within the acoustic structure of vocalisations have the potential to inform signal receivers about the identity of the caller. Such differences can often be explained by morphological differences of the signaller’s sound production apparatus. Natural selection may have favoured individual variation within call types, especially if identity cues enhance call function. In addition, animals may modify their vocalisations such that they sound more similar to, or more distinct from those of neighbouring conspecifics. We recorded pyow and hack vocalisations from five recognised male putty-nosed monkeys (Cercopithecus nictitans) in Gashaka Gumti National Park, Nigeria. We analysed the temporal and spectral features of both call types to investigate whether the calls contained identity cues, and whether calls of neighbouring males were less or more different in their acoustic structure than expected by chance. More parameters were found to vary significantly between individuals within pyows than hacks, and whilst pyows could be correctly assigned to individual callers more often than would have been expected by chance, hacks could not. We found no relation between geographic distance and acoustic similarity of pyows and hacks.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Call combinations in monkeys: compositional or idiomatic expressions?
    Arnold, Kate
    ;
    Zuberbühler, Klaus 
    Syntax is widely considered the feature that most decisively sets human language apart from other natural communication systems. Animal vocalisations are generally considered to be holistic with few examples of utterances meaning something other than the sum of their parts. Previously, we have shown that male putty-nosed monkeys produce call series consisting of two call types in response to different events. They can also be combined into short sequences that convey a different message from those conveyed by either call type alone. Here, we investigate whether 'pyow-hack' sequences are compositional in that the individual calls contribute to their overall meaning. However, the monkeys behaved as if they perceived the sequence as an idiomatic expression rather than decoding the sequence. Nonetheless, while this communication system lacks the generative power of syntax it enables callers to increase the number of messages that can be conveyed by a small and innate call repertoire.
  • Publication
    Accès libre