Vocal coordination of troop movement among white-faced capuchin monkeys, Cebus capucinus.

Abstract

Coordinated travel by social groups is well documented, often with evidence that cognitive spatial maps are employed. Yet the mechanisms by which movement decisions are made and implemented within social groups are poorly known. In a field study of white-faced capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica it was demonstrated that a specific call, the "trill," is used by adults in the initiation and directing of troop movement. The trills of subadults were restricted to vocal exchanges with other subadults. Continuous vocal recordings were collected of the vocalizations of the 14 members of the study troop. A cumulative 33.7 h of continuous samples and 1,892 sonagrams were analyzed. In addition to vocalizations clearly associated with alarm, distress, or agonistic contexts, two distinct call types were identified, trills and huhs. Age-sex classes differed in the rate at which both types of calls were produced in different spatial positions within the troop. Adult females and males produced higher rates of trills when in the leading edge compared to all other spatial positions in a traveling troop. Trills at the edge of a stationary troop represented 36 "successful" and 3 "unsuccessful" start attempts; the troop usually moved in the trajectory predicted by a trilling adult's location on the troop periphery within 10 min of the initiation of trilling. Adults also altered the trajectory of traveling troops by trilling at the side and back of the troop (10 "successful" and 4 "unsuccessful" attempts). Huh vocalizations were most predictably produced when a capuchin is in a dense fruit patch. These results emphasize the role vocalizations serve in the coordination and trajectory of group movement in nonhuman primates, especially those populations that are arboreal or in which visual contact is otherwise impeded. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc. This article is a US Government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.