Who has not gone on a trip and tried to imitate the accent of the natives of that place? It even sticks on its own! Although in humans, on many occasions, this behavior can bring us more problems than advantages, in the event that someone gets upset, it seems that the opposite happens in tamarin monkeys.
A recent study carried out by Brazilian and English researchers from the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia and the Anglia Ruskin University, respectively; and published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology , it talks about the displacement of characters, a change in specific traits in species that coexist and are closely related. The trait studied was animal communication and they discovered that certain species of marmosets, specifically bald tamarins ( Saguinus bicolor ) and blond-handed tamarins ( Saguinus midas ), were able to change their accent when entering the territory of other species of marmoset, possibly to avoid conflicts.
According to the study’s lead author, Tainara Sobroza, for Ciencia Plus “when groups of tamarins move rapidly around the mature Amazon rainforest, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish the species. During our research we were surprised to find that they also sound the same in the areas of the forest where they live together, where they are together. It is not known with certainty why their calls converge in this way, but possibly it is to help with identification when defending a territory or competing for the same resources ”.
Normally, in species that coexist in the same territory, their calls evolve to be more and more different, to be able to differentiate and recognize each other. In some cases, such as that of tamarins , instead of diverging, their cries are closely related and converge to show similar traits. According to, Jacob Dunn, co-author of the study, tells for Ciencia Plus that “this study is the first to show an asymmetric convergence of calls in primates (that is, that one species chooses to adopt the call patterns of another species to communicate). By imitating the accent, the call of the species in question would become the lingua franca in shared territories ”.
In addition, they discovered that the cries of the marmosets changed depending on the territorial context, that is, the area in which the invasion of territory took place; being different in primary or more mature forests, due to acoustic adaptation. Thus, the study concludes by suggesting that the sounds of tamarins could vary depending on the social and environmental pressures that individuals are subjected to.
References:
Sobroza, T. V., Gordo, M., Pequeno, P. A. C. L., Dunn, J. C., Spironello, W. R., Rabelo, R. M., & Barnett, A. P. A. (2021). Convergent character displacement in sympatric tamarin calls (Saguinus spp.). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 75(5). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-021-03028-x
science plus. (2021, May 27). The monkeys change their “accent” to avoid conflict. europapress.es. https://www.europapress.es/ciencia/habitat/noticia-monos-cambian-acento-evitar-conflictos-20210527115246.html
