Respect for elders may be universal in primates. Monkeys 鈥� just like humans 鈥� pay their elders special attention during conversation, apparently in order to garner some of the older animals鈥� wisdom.
at the University of Rennes in Paimpont, France, and colleagues recorded 823 vocal exchanges between eight female Campbell鈥檚 monkeys, each of which was observed for 6 hours.
The calls by older monkeys elicited more vocal responses than those by younger monkeys, regardless of their status within the group. Seven-year-olds got twice as many responses from the rest of the group as 2-year olds.
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Audio: Listen to a 鈥渃onversation鈥� between a group of monkeys
鈥淭his is the first time scientists have shown systematically that primates other than humans pay special attention to the voices of their elders, and it suggests that respect for elders is part of our primate heritage,鈥� says of the School of Psychology at the University of St Andrews, UK, who was not involved in the study.
Forging friendship
Why should younger monkeys pay more attention to what their elders have to say? For one thing, being taken under the wing of a senior monkey may help younger animals forge friendships and climb the social ladder. 鈥淥lder monkeys play a key role in regulating the social network,鈥� says Lemasson.
Older monkeys also know more, Zuberb眉hler points out. 鈥淓lders know the forest better, they鈥檙e better at spotting predators, and they鈥檙e better at finding new food,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he calls made by elders may play a key role in group cohesion and survival.鈥�
In addition, the calls made by elders should carry more weight than those made by juveniles, as elders are better versed in the 鈥渞ules鈥� of conversation, Lemasson says. Juveniles are more likely to break the rules and give misleading signals.
False alarm
鈥淔or example, vervet monkeys send out an alarm call when they see an eagle fly overhead, but youngsters will send it out simply in response to a leaf falling from the sky,鈥� Lemasson says. 鈥淭he elders鈥� calls are more trustworthy.鈥�
Respect for our elders may well be a universal trait in primates, Zuberb眉hler concludes, though he points out that the group of female monkeys in Lemasson鈥檚 experiment 鈥� only one of which was a mother 鈥� was not typical of wild groups.
鈥淪even of the eight females had no offspring, and that鈥檚 unusual,鈥� says Zuberb眉hler. 鈥淭he next thing to do is to do a comparable study in the wild with natural populations and see if the effect holds.鈥�
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