St Andrews Research Repository

Recent studies on the social life and vocal production, usage and comprehension of nonhuman primates have brought new insights into the evolutionary mechanisms of cognition and communication as well as the emergence of ...

The question of animal culture has been of interest for decades. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have played a key role in the debate of whether or not it is appropriate to use the term ‘culture’ to describe animal behaviour ...

A central issue in the study of primate communication is the extent to which individuals adjust their behaviour to the attention and signals of others, and manipulate others’ attention to communicate about external events. ...

The loud songs of gibbons (Hylobatidae) usually consist of a duet by the mated pair delivered each morning. These songs can transmit over a kilometre through dense forest habitat and therefore presumably play a role in ...

While the gestural communication of apes is widely recognised as intentional and flexible, their vocal communication still remains considered as mostly genetically determined and emotionally bound. Trying to limit the ...

Despite having being discovered nearly 80 years ago, bonobos (Pan paniscus) are still one of the least well understood of the great apes, largely remaining in the shadow of their better known cousins, the chimpanzees (Pan ...

A growing body of behavioural data is beginning to show that, like their male counterparts, female chimpanzees can be competitive and aggressive, particularly when resources come under pressure. These observations are ...

Black-and-white colobus monkeys are renowned for their impressive vocal behaviour, but up to date there have been only very few systematic efforts to study this. These monkeys are able to produce loud and low-pitched roars ...

Before infants speak their first word, they already produce a large variety of sounds. Whilst the developmental process that leads to speech production is very well documented, little attention is given to how non-linguistic ...

Evidence from captive studies suggests that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) lack the motivation to complete cooperative tasks and there is little evidence for communication that coordinates their behaviour during joint ...