Studying the culture and behavior of animals are one of the things that can lead humans to fully understand what's each creature's role and significance in the environment. Researchers from the German Primate Center (DPZ) Leibniz Institute Primate Research have just opened another aspect that will expand our knowledge in terms of language evolution. The research examined the reaction of West African green monkeys towards sounds.
A previous study had been done with the East African vervet monkeys. The monkeys were observed to make certain sounds or alarm calls to warn their fellow animals about an incoming predator. Now, the West African green monkeys which are the relatives of African vervet monkeys undergo the same examination. Using drones, researchers observe how the monkeys respond to it when they see it flying in the sky and hearing its sound. Based on the observations, the monkeys learn quickly what the drone noise means.
Along with the specific call warnings for the main predators of the African West vervet monkeys, it was also accompanied by actions. As for example, when the alarm call for leopard was made, other monkeys automatically climb a tree. For an eagle, they search the sky and hide while in the case of snake, after hearing the call they stand up with two legs and remain motionless, according to Interesting Engineering.
The new research spearheaded by Julia Fischer from the German Primate Center has the main goal to determine how quick monkeys can identify the meaning of new sound. The group confronted a group of West African green monkey near the DPZ research station in Senegal with a drone flown over 60 meters high. When they heard the sound, they reacted quickly, some even searched in the sky and hide.
Based on their observations, they found out that the West African green monkeys do not have an alarm call for skyborne enemies. Unlike the first group of monkeys (African vervet monkeys), the new group does not make a new call when they saw the drone, instead, they used the same alarm for an eagle that their relatives use to warn. "The animals quickly learned what previously unknown sounds means and remembered this information," said Julia Fischer. "This shows their ability for auditing learning," she added. Scientists concluded that the alarm calls rooted in the evolution of vervet monkeys.
