TY - JOUR
T1 - Social, contextual, and individual factors affecting the occurrence and acoustic structure of drumming bouts in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
AU - Babiszewska, Magdalena
AU - Schel, Anne Marijke
AU - Wilke, Claudia
AU - Slocombe, Katie E.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The production of structured and re petitive sounds by striking objects is a behavior found not only in humans, but also in a variety of animal species, including chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). In this study we examined individual and social factors that may influence the frequency with which individuals engage in drumming behavior when producing long distance pant hoot vocalizations, and analyzed the temporal structure of those drumming bouts. Male chimpanzees from Budongo Forest, Uganda, drummed significantly more frequently during travel than feeding or resting and older individuals were significantly more likely to produce drumming bouts than younger ones. In contrast, we found no evidence that the presence of estrus females, high ranking males and preferred social partners in the caller's vicinty had an effect on the frequency with which an individual accompanied their pant hoot vocalization with drumming. Through acoustic analyses, we demonstrated that drumming sequences produced with pant hoots may have contained information on individual identity and that qualitatively, there was individual variation in the complexity of the temporal patterns produced. We conclude that drumming patterns may act as individually distinctive long-distance signals that, together with pant hoot vocalizations, function to coordinate the movement and spacing of dispersed individuals within a community, rather than as signals to group members in the immediate audience.
AB - The production of structured and re petitive sounds by striking objects is a behavior found not only in humans, but also in a variety of animal species, including chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). In this study we examined individual and social factors that may influence the frequency with which individuals engage in drumming behavior when producing long distance pant hoot vocalizations, and analyzed the temporal structure of those drumming bouts. Male chimpanzees from Budongo Forest, Uganda, drummed significantly more frequently during travel than feeding or resting and older individuals were significantly more likely to produce drumming bouts than younger ones. In contrast, we found no evidence that the presence of estrus females, high ranking males and preferred social partners in the caller's vicinty had an effect on the frequency with which an individual accompanied their pant hoot vocalization with drumming. Through acoustic analyses, we demonstrated that drumming sequences produced with pant hoots may have contained information on individual identity and that qualitatively, there was individual variation in the complexity of the temporal patterns produced. We conclude that drumming patterns may act as individually distinctive long-distance signals that, together with pant hoot vocalizations, function to coordinate the movement and spacing of dispersed individuals within a community, rather than as signals to group members in the immediate audience.
KW - Chimpanzees
KW - Drumming behavior
KW - Individual signature
KW - Primate communication
KW - Rhythmic behavior
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84919459357&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/ajpa.22634
DO - 10.1002/ajpa.22634
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84919459357
SN - 0002-9483
VL - 156
SP - 125
EP - 134
JO - American journal of physical anthropology
JF - American journal of physical anthropology
IS - 1
ER -