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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
    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
    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.