Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Howler Monkeys and Harpy Eagles: A Communication Arms Race

  • Chapter
Primate Anti-Predator Strategies

Part of the book series: Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects ((DIPR))

Abstract

Predation is considered by many researchers to be a selective pressure and strong evolutionary driving force in natural ecosystems. Predation phenomena are dynamic interactions that by definition need more than one agent: at least one predator and one prey. The interaction gets exponentially more complicated when we consider multiple agents and different strategies. These predator-prey interactions can be viewed as evolutionary arms races. There have been numerous studies on prey adaptations (Blumstein et al., 2000; Hauser & Caffrey, 1994; Marler et al., 1992; Endler, 1991; Cheney & Seyfarth, 1990; Hauser & Wrangham, 1990; Ryan et al., 1982), but few report both detailed adaptive responses to predation and ways predators can improve their killing efficiency (Berger et al., 2001). This lack of knowledge is even more striking for predation upon primates (Shultz et al., 2004; Gil-da-Costa et al., 2003; Zuberbühler, 2000a; Zuberbühler et al., 1999).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 229.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Baldwin, J.D. and Baldwin, J.I. (1976). Vocalizations of howler monkeys (A. palliata) in southwestern Panama. Folia primatol., 26: 81–108.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Berger, J., Swenson, J.E., and Persson, I. (2001). Recolonizing carnivores and naïve prey: Conservation lessons from Pleistocene extinctions. Science, 291: 1036–1039.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blumstein, D.T., Daniel, J.C., Griffin, A.S., and Evans, C.S. (2000). Insular tammar wallabies (Macropus eugenii) respond to visual but not to acoustic cues from predators. Behav. Ecol., 11(5): 528–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boesch, C., and Boesch, H. (1989). Hunting behavior of wild chimpanzees in the TaÏ National Park. Amer. Jour. of Phys. Anthropol., 78: 547–573.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boye, M., Gunturkun, O., and Vauclair, J. (2005). Right ear advantage for conspecific calls in adults and subadults, but not infants, California sea lions (Zalophus californianus): Hemispheric specialization for communication? European Jour. of Neuroscience, 21: 1727–1732.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, L., and Amadon, D. (1968). Eagles, hawks and falcons of the world. Vol. 2. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bshary, R. (2001). Diana monkeys, Cercopithecus diana, adjust their anti-predator response behaviour to human hunting strategies. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 50: 251–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caro, T.M. (1995). Pursuit-deterrence revisited. Trends Ecol. Evol., 10: 500–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, C.R. (1965) The howlers of Barro Colorado Island. In I. DeVore (Ed.). Primate behavior. Field studies of monkeys and apes (pp. 250–291). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheney, D.L., and Seyfarth, R.M. (1990). How monkeys see the world. Chicago: Chicago Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chivers, D.J. (1969). On the daily behaviour and spacing of howling monkey groups. Folia Primatol. (Basel), 10: 48–102.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cords, M. (1990) Vigilance and mixed-species association of some East African forest monkeys. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 26: 297–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Endler, J.A. (1991). Interactions between predators and prey. In J.R. Krebs and N.B. Davies (Eds.), Behavioral ecology (pp. 169–202). Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowler, J.M., and Cope, J.B. (1964). Notes on the harpy eagle in British Guiana. The Auk, 81: 257–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Froehlich, J.W., Thorington, R.W., and Otis, J.S. (1981). The demography of howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Inter. Jour. Primatol., 2: 207–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fullard, J.H., Dawson, J.W., and Jacobs, D.S. (2003). Auditory encoding during the last moment of a moth’s life. Jour. Exp. Biol., 206: 281–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghazanfar, A.A. (Ed.). (2003). Primate audition: Ethology and neurobiology. Boca Raton: Florida: CRC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaulin, S.J.C., Knight, D.H., and Gaulin, C.K. (1980). Local variance in Alouatta group size and food availability on Barro Colorado Island. Biotropica, 12: 137–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gifford, G.W., MacLean, K.A., Hauser, M.D., and Cohen, Y.E. (2005). The neurophysiology of functionally meaningful categories: Macaque ventrolateral prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in spontaneous categorization of species-specific vocalizations. Jour. Cog. Neurosci., 17: 1471–1482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gil-da-Costa, R., Palleroni, A., Hauser, M.D., Touchton, J., and Kelley, J.P. (2003). Rapid acquisition of an alarm response by a Neotropical primate to a newly introduced avian predator. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B, 270: 605–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gil-da-Costa, R., Braun, A., Lopes, M., Hauser, M.D., Carson, R.E., Herscovitch, P., and Martin, A. (2004). Toward an evolutionary perspective on conceptual representation: Species-specific calls activate visual and affective processing systems in the macaque. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 101: 17516–17521.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gittleman, J.L., and Gompper, M.E. (2001) The risk of extinction—What you don’t know will hurt you. Science, 291: 997–999.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hasson, O. (1991). Pursuit-deterrent signals: Communication between prey and predators. Trends Ecol Evol., 6: 325–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser, M.D., and Wrangham, R.W. (1990). Recognition of predator and competitor calls in non-human primates and birds: A preliminary report. Ethology, 86: 116–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser, M.D. and Andersson, K. (1994). Left hemisphere dominance for processing vocalizations in adult, but not infant, rhesus monkeys: Field experiments. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 91: 3946–3948.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser, M.D., and Caffrey, C. (1994). Anti-predator response to raptor calls in wild crows, Corvus brachyrhynchos hesperis. Anim. Behav., 48: 1469–1471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heinsohn, R.P., and Craig, P. (1995). Complex cooperative strategies in group-territorial African lions. Science, 269: 1260–1262.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hoy, R., Nolen, T., and Brodfuehrer, P. (1989). The neuroethology of acoustic startle and escape in flying insects. Jour. Exp. Biol., 146: 287–306.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jim, K.C., and Giles, C.L. (2000). Talking helps: Evolving communicating agents for the predator-prey pursuit problem. Artif. Life, 6: 237–254.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mann, D.A., Lu, Z., Hastings, M.C., and Popper, A.N. (1998). Detection of ultrasonic tones and simulated dolphin echolocation clicks by a teleost fish, the American shad (Alosa sapidissima). Jour. Acoust. Soc. Am., 104: 562–568.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mann, D.A., Lu, Z., and Popper, A.N. (1997). A clupeid fish can detect ultrasound. Nature, 389: 341.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marler, P., Evans, C.S., and Hauser, M.D. (1992). Animal signals: Reference, motivation or both? In H. Papoucek, U. Jurgens, and M. Papoucek (Eds.), Nonverbal vocal communication: Comparative and developmental approaches (pp. 66–86). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, P.K. (Ed.). (2005). Animal communication networks. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milton, K. (1980). The foraging strategy of howler monkeys. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milton, K. (1996) Effects of bot fly (Allouattamya baeri) parasitism on a free-ranging howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) population in Panama. Jour. Zool. Lond., 239: 39–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palleroni, A., and Hauser, M.D. (2003). Experience-dependent plasticity for auditory processing in a raptor. Science, 299: 1195.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Palleroni, A. in prep. Harpy eagle development and behaviour.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poremba, A., Malloy, M., Saunders, R.C., Carson, R.E., Herscovitch, P., and Mishkin, M. (2004). Species-specific calls evoke asymmetric activity in the monkey’s temporal poles. Nature, 427: 448–451.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rettig, N. (1978) Breeding behavior of the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja). The Auk, 95: 629–643.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roeder, K.D. (1975). Neural factors and evitability in insect behavior. Jour. Exp. Zool., 194: 75–88.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, M.J., Tuttle, M.D., and Rand, A.S. (1982). Bat predation and sexual advertisement in a Neotropical frog. American Naturalist, 119: 136–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rydell, J. (1998). Bat defence in lekking ghost swifts (Hepialus humuli), a moth without ultrasonic hearing. Proc. Biol Sci., 265: 1373–1376.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schaller, G.B. (1972). The Serengeti lion: A study of predator-prey relationships. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sekulic, R., and Chivers, D.J. (1986). The significance of call duration in howler monkeys. Inter. Jour. Primatol., 7(2): 183–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth, R.M., Cheney, D.L., and Marler, P. (1980). Vervet monkey alarm calls: Semantic communication in a free-ranging primate. Animal Behaviour, 28: 1070–1094.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfarth, R.M., and Cheney, D.L. (2003). Signalers and receivers in animal communication. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 54: 145–173.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shultz, S., Noë, R., McGraw, W.S., and Dunbar, R.I. (2004). A community-level evaluation of the impact of prey behavioural and ecological characteristics on predator diet composition. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B., 271: 725–732.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanford, C.B. (1998). Chimpanzee and red colobus: The ecology of predator and prey. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Struhsaker, T.T. (1967). Auditory communication among vervet monkeys. In S.A. Altman (Ed.), Social communication among primates (pp. 281–324). Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Touchton, J.M., Hsu, Y. and Palleroni, A. (2002). Foraging ecology of captive-bred subadult harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Ornitologia neotropical, 13: 365–379.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treves, A. (1997). Self-protection in primates. Doctoral. Harvard University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willis, E.O., and Eisenmann, E. (1979). A revised list of birds of Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 291: 1–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, M., and Ventocilla, J. (1995). A day in Barro Colorado Island. Panama: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodland, D.J., Jaafar, Z., and Knight, M.L. (1980). The ‘pursuit-deterrent’ function of alarm signals. American Naturalist, 115: 748–753.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zuberbühler, K., Jenny, D., and Bshary, R. (1999). The predator deterrence function of primate alarm calls. Ethology, 105: 477–490.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuberbühler, K. (2000a). Causal knowledge of predators’ behaviour in wild Diana monkeys. Animal Behaviour, 59: 209–220.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zuberbühler, K. (2000b). Interspecies semantic communication in two forest primates. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B, 267: 713–718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Health, 10 Center Dr MSC 1366, Bldg 10, Room 4C103, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Ricardo Gil-da-Costa

Authors
  1. Ricardo Gil-da-Costa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Sharon L. Gursky

  2. School of Social Sciences and Law, Department of Anthropology, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0PB, UK

    K. A. I. Nekaris

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Gil-da-Costa, R. (2007). Howler Monkeys and Harpy Eagles: A Communication Arms Race. In: Gursky, S.L., Nekaris, K.A.I. (eds) Primate Anti-Predator Strategies. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34810-0_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation