They might not know the Destiny’s Child song, but marmoset might just respond to “say my name.”
New research reveals that the monkeys are among an elite list of species that refer to each other and respond to unique names as a form of communication.
They join dolphins, elephants, and of course humans, as the only known creatures to identify themselves and others with names or vocalizations specific to individuals, a process known as vocal labeling.
Not only is this a huge discovery for learning more about marmosets, their use of language could provide insight into the evolution of human language.
It’s long been wondered by scientists if primates use vocal labeling with each other, due to their proximity to humans when it comes to DNA.
By studying the natural “conversations” between the marmosets as well introducing a computer for them to “talk” to, the research team discovered that the monkeys use “phee-calls” to address specific individuals.
In turn, the monkeys demonstrated that they clearly understood the call and responded in turn.
A social species, marmosets live in small “family groups”, that tend to consist of 2-8.
They use a variety of social calls to communicate, and have even been proven to perceive pitch, part of an extensive vocal repertoire that includes phee, twitter, egg, moan, and squeal calls.
For the experiment, 10 monkeys were placed in enclosures with a visual barrier between them.
They could see each other before the start of the experiment, and microphones were set up to record the calls between the monkeys.
Some monkeys shared space with a member of their family group, while others were placed with an “outsider” that they were not familiar with.
“This discovery highlights the complexity of social communication among marmosets,” David Omer from the Safra Center for Brain Sciences said in a statement.
“These calls are not just used for self-localization, as previously thought – marmosets use these specific calls to label and address specific individuals”.
In addition to the use of names, the research team also discovered that dialects can vary from family group to family group.
They were able to communicate with members of other family groups, suggesting that they can learn other dialects and names of non-blood related marmosets.
Additionally, they were observed to be more likely to respond to calls directed at them when they knew the identity of the other “speaker”.
“Marmosets live in small monogamous family groups and take care of their young together, much like humans do,” said Omer.
“These similarities suggest that they faced comparable evolutionary social challenges to our early pre-linguistic ancestors, which might have led them to develop similar communicating methods.”
The research provided new insight into how social communication and human language might have evolved.
The ability of marmosets to label each other with specific calls suggests they have developed complex brain mechanisms, potentially analogous to those that eventually gave rise to language in humans, the study found.
Marmosets, they’re just like us when it comes to name-calling!
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