Vocal signals facilitate cooperative hunting in wild chimpanzees

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Abstract

Cooperation and communication likely coevolved in humans. However, the evolutionary roots of this interdependence remain unclear. We address this issue by investigating the role of vocal signals in facilitating a group cooperative behavior in an ape species: hunting in wild chimpanzees. First, we show that bark vocalizations produced before hunt initiation are reliable signals of behavioral motivation, with barkers being most likely to participate in the hunt. Next, we find that barks are associated with greater hunter recruitment and more effective hunting, with shorter latencies to hunting initiation and prey capture. Our results indicate that the coevolutionary relationship between vocal communication and group-level cooperation is not unique to humans in the ape lineage and is likely to have been present in our last common ancestor with chimpanzees.

Abstract

The link between vocal communication and group-level cooperation is a shared feature of humans and chimpanzees.

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Hunting behavior of wild chimpanzees in the Taï National Park.

C. Boesch, H Boesch (1989)

Hunting is often considered one of the major behaviors that shaped early hominids' evolution, along with the shift toward a drier and more open habitat. We suggest that a precise comparison of the hunting behavior of a species closely related to man might help us understand which aspects of hunting could be affected by environmental conditions. The hunting behavior of wild chimpanzees is discussed, and new observations on a population living in the tropical rain forest of the Taï National Park, Ivory Coast, are presented. Some of the forest chimpanzees' hunting performances are similar to those of savanna-woodlands populations; others are different. Forest chimpanzees have a more specialized prey image, intentionally search for more adult prey, and hunt in larger groups and with a more elaborate cooperative level than savanna-woodlands chimpanzees. In addition, forest chimpanzees tend to share meat more actively and more frequently. These findings are related to some theories on aspects of hunting behavior in early hominids and discussed in order to understand some factors influencing the hunting behavior of wild chimpanzees. Finally, the hunting behavior of primates is compared with that of social carnivores.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Joseph G. Mine:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9058-6938

Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: ValidationRole: VisualizationRole: Writing - original draft

Katie E. Slocombe:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7310-1887

Role: ConceptualizationRole: Funding acquisitionRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: SupervisionRole: Writing - original draft

Erik P. Willems:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7555-3484

Role: ConceptualizationRole: Formal analysisRole: MethodologyRole: SoftwareRole: ValidationRole: VisualizationRole: Writing - review & editing

Ian C. Gilby:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8782-930X

Role: ConceptualizationRole: MethodologyRole: SupervisionRole: Writing - review & editing

Miranda Yu: Role: ConceptualizationRole: Methodology

Melissa Emery Thompson:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2451-6397

Role: Data curationRole: Funding acquisitionRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: ValidationRole: Writing - review & editing

Martin N. Muller:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4298-8219

Role: Data curationRole: Funding acquisitionRole: Project administrationRole: SupervisionRole: Writing - review & editing

Richard W. Wrangham:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0435-2209

Role: Funding acquisitionRole: InvestigationRole: Project administrationRole: SupervisionRole: Writing - review & editing

Simon W. Townsend:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1504-1801

Role: ConceptualizationRole: Formal analysisRole: Funding acquisitionRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: ValidationRole: VisualizationRole: Writing - original draftRole: Writing - review & editing

Zarin P. Machanda:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7060-7949

Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: Funding acquisitionRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: ValidationRole: Writing - original draftRole: Writing - review & editing

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Sci Adv

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Sci Adv

Journal ID (publisher-id): sciadv

Journal ID (hwp): advances

Title: Science Advances

Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science

ISSN (Electronic): 2375-2548

Publication date Collection: July 2022

Publication date (Electronic, pub): 29 July 2022

Volume: 8

Issue: 30

Electronic Location Identifier: eabo5553

Affiliations

[ ¹ ]Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

[ ² ]Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

[ ³ ]Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK.

[ ⁴ ]Department of Anthropology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

[ ⁵ ]School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.

[ ⁶ ]Departments of Anthropology and Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.

[ ⁷ ]Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.

[ ⁸ ]Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

[ ⁹ ]Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK.

Author notes

[* ]Corresponding author. Email: simonwilliam.townsend@ 123456uzh.ch

Author information

Joseph G. Mine https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9058-6938

Katie E. Slocombe https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7310-1887

Erik P. Willems https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7555-3484

Ian C. Gilby https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8782-930X

Melissa Emery Thompson https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2451-6397

Martin N. Muller https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4298-8219

Richard W. Wrangham https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0435-2209

Simon W. Townsend https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1504-1801

Zarin P. Machanda https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7060-7949

Article

Publisher ID: abo5553

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abo5553

PMC ID: 9337754

PubMed ID: 35905190

SO-VID: 56ab7ccd-20ac-4f94-8ce2-a63b2f5c63b4

Copyright © Copyright © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).

License:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.

History

Date received : 17 February 2022

Date accepted : 15 June 2022

Funding

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002, National Institutes of Health;

Award ID: AI058715

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002, National Institutes of Health;

Award ID: R01AG049395

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000286, British Academy;

Award ID: SRG1819\191247

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000781, European Research Council;

Award ID: JOINTATT 724608

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001711, Swiss National Science Foundation;

Award ID: PP00P3_163850