Communication styles in bonobos and chimpanzees: Same same but different?
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Abstract
Comparative studies in relation to language origins have mainly focused on our closest living relatives, bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Direct comparisons however are still lacking and/or concerned individuals living in captive environments only. Here, we carried out a systematic, quantitative comparison of communicative abilities of bonobos and chimpanzees living in four different communities in the wild with a special focus on within- and between-species variability. The analyses focused on communicative exchanges between mother-infant dyads to initiate joint travel. The communicative behavior of twelve bonobo (LuiKotale, Wamba; DRC) and thirteen chimpanzee mother-infant dyads (Taï South, Côte d’Ivoire; Kanyawara, Uganda) was filmed during a total of 1033 (bonobos) and 1189 (chimpanzees) hours of observation. We analyzed ‘signal-response’ structures (e.g. response waiting, gestural sequences, temporal relationships) in 316 bonobo and 415 chimpanzee carry initiations, while taking into account dyadic role, infant age and site. Differences in behavior could not be attributed to within-species variability. Bonobos solicited carries more frequently from shorter distances and via coordinated responses. Chimpanzees used a higher frequency of response waiting and sequences, showing overall more persistence. Our findings suggest that interactional intelligence paved the way to language with communication styles being influenced by social matrices.
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2016. Communication styles in bonobos and chimpanzees: Same same but different? PeerJ Preprints 4:e1791v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1791v1Author comment
This is an abstract which has been accepted for the "Chimpanzees in Context" symposium.
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Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Author Contributions
Marlen Fröhlich conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Paul H Kuchenbuch conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Gudrun Müller analyzed the data.
Barbara Fruth reviewed drafts of the paper.
Takeshi Furuichi reviewed drafts of the paper.
Roman M Wittig reviewed drafts of the paper.
Simone Pika conceived and designed the experiments, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Animal Ethics
The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):
Our study was of a purely non-invasive nature with audio- and video recordings being taken from a minimum distance of seven meters, thereby aiming to not influence the natural behavior of the individuals, groups and communities. The research adhered to the legal requirements of the countries in which it was conducted and followed the recommendations of the ‘Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986’ as published by the government of the United Kingdom and the principles of ‘‘Ethical Treatment of Non-Human Primates’’, as stated by the American Society of Primatologists.
Field Study Permissions
The following information was supplied relating to field study approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):
Centre de Recherche en Écologie et Foresterie (CREF; DRC),
nstitut Congolaise pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN; DRC),
Uganda Wildlife Authority,
Uganda Council for Science and Technology,
Ministe`re de l’Enseignement Supe´rieure et de la Recherche Scientifique (Côte d'Ivoire)
Office Ivoirien des Parcs et Reserves (Côte d'Ivoire)
Data Deposition
The following information was supplied regarding data availability:
The research in this article did not generate any raw data.
Funding
This study was supported by a Dissertation Fieldwork Grant of the Wenner-Gren Foundation awarded to MF (No. 8784) and a Sofja-Kovalevskaja Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to SP (No. DEU/1069105). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
