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Playbacks of food-associated calls attract chimpanzees towards known food patches in a captive setting

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Abstract

Food-associated calls have received much research attention due to their potential to refer to discovered food in a word-like manner. Studies have found that in many species, food-associated calls attract receivers to the food patch, suggesting these calls play roles in food sharing, cooperation and competition. Additionally, in various species, these calls play a role that has received much less attention: mediating social interactions among foragers that are already nearby or within the food patch, independently of whether they attract outside foragers. In order to increase understanding of the function of the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) food-associated rough grunt, we conducted captive playback studies testing whether rough grunt playbacks attract, repel or have no effect on the proximity of foragers already familiarized with the presence of food. We tested how acoustic playbacks of rough grunts (or control calls) from one of two known, identical feeding sites affected receivers’ approach and feeding behaviors. More often than expected, participants first approached the feeding site from which rough grunts, but not control calls, were broadcast. However, neither condition increased the likelihood that participants fed first from a given site. Our results support the hypothesis that rough grunts elicit an approach response in receivers, while providing no evidence that they repel. In addition, our study provides evidence that receivers may approach rough grunts even if they do not intend to feed. We discuss the information rough grunts may convey to receivers beyond information about discovered food and the potential benefits signalers may gain from this calling behavior.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all of the staff at the National Center for Chimpanzee Care for their wonderful care of the chimpanzees housed at the facility. L.O’B. would also like to give special thanks to staff members Rachel Haller, Emily Mocarski and Erica Thiele for their assistance with logistical aspects of the study and to Dr. Lydia Hopper for her helpful guidance and feedback throughout the study.

Funding

The chimpanzees at the National Center for Chimpanzee Care at the Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research are supported by NIH Cooperative Agreement U42 OD-011197. This study was supported by funding from the Dayton-Wilkie Natural History Fellowship from the Bell Museum of Natural History (L.O’B.) as well as a McKnight Land-Grant Professorship Award (M.L.W.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Lisa R. O’Bryan & Michael L. Wilson

  2. Department of Psychological Sciences, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Lisa R. O’Bryan

  3. Department of Comparative Medicine, Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX, USA

    Susan P. Lambeth & Steven J. Schapiro

  4. Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Michael L. Wilson

  5. Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Michael L. Wilson

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  1. Lisa R. O’Bryan
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  2. Susan P. Lambeth
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  4. Michael L. Wilson
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Correspondence to Lisa R. O’Bryan.

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All procedures performed in these studies adhered to the ethical standards in the protocols approved by the IACUCs of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (UTMDACC) and the University of Minnesota (Protocol number # 1002A78194). The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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O’Bryan, L.R., Lambeth, S.P., Schapiro, S.J. et al. Playbacks of food-associated calls attract chimpanzees towards known food patches in a captive setting. Primates 62, 905–918 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-021-00936-4

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