Monkeys, too, have dialects

[yuuteya]

OSAKA--Regional dialects have long been common among people, but a group of Japanese researchers has found that other mammals talk differently, too.

In a study on monkeys led by Prof. Nobuo Masataka of Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute, the researchers found that the calls of monkeys living on Yakushima island in Kagoshima Prefecture differ from those of monkeys of the same species that were moved from the island to Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture.

The results of the study will be published in the German academic journal Ethology on Dec. 5.

Twenty-three Japanese macaques on Yakushima island and 30 descendants of the same species that were transferred in 1956 from the island to Mt. Ohira in Inuyama were examined by Masataka and the other researchers over a 10-year period from 1990. They compared the calls made when monkeys confirm each other's presence in the same group.

Although there were no differences in the calls of monkeys 6 to 8 months old in the two areas, monkeys aged from 9 months on Yakushima made high-pitched calls. Among the calls of monkeys aged 1 to 18, monkeys on Yakushima uttered calls at 780 hertz on average, while the calls of monkeys in Mt. Ohira averaged 670 hertz.

On Mt. Ohira, which has few trees, low-pitched monkey calls can be heard over a long distance, but on thickly wooded Yakushima island, the monkeys must communicate with high-pitched shrieks to be heard clearly.

Therefore, the monkeys in the two areas were believed to have changed their vocal patterns to adapt to their environment.

Masataka said: "Regional differences in monkey calls can be regarded as dialects. Monkey sounds indicate the linguistic roots of human beings, as young monkeys inherit calls from their parents or other monkeys in their groups."

[nonamerasian]

Makes sense.

[eos]

cool. i like monkeys.

[kpih]

Hey waiting for SWK (a.k.a. the Monkey King) to comment on this.