Comparative Studies of Great Ape Vocal Behavior

为了深入了解类人猿是如何交流的，三谷博士将收集所有四个类人猿物种--猩猩、大猩猩、黑猩猩和矮黑猩猩(侏儒黑猩猩)--的现场数据，并用他已经拥有的录音来补充这些材料。研究将在印度尼西亚西加里曼丹的Gunung Palung自然保护区(猩猩)、坦桑尼亚的Mahale山脉研究站(黑猩猩)、卢旺达的卡里索克研究中心(大猩猩)和扎伊尔的Lomako森林(黑猩猩)进行。在每个地点，将跟踪动物，并将制作高质量的发声磁带录音。发出呼叫的上下文也将被注意到。将进行回放实验，从对象动物隐藏的位置播放录音呼叫，并记录动物的反应。这项研究解决了四个具体问题。大猩猩的“大声叫声”在哪些方面因物种不同而不同？在单一物种的地理范围内，类人猿的大声叫声在声学结构上是否有所不同？大声叫声的声学结构是否存在个体差异？在特定个体的叫声中是否存在声学可变性，这种可变性是否与他们的发射环境的差异有关？所有的类人猿物种都濒临灭绝，保护它们是高度优先的保护任务。为了有效地做到这一点，有必要尽可能多地了解他们的行为，这项研究将朝着这个方向迈出重要的一步。虽然很明显，这些物种通过声音交流，但对这一过程的研究很少。这项工作也很重要，因为它将把人类语言置于更广泛的生物学背景下，并可能提供一些关于这一独特的人类特征是如何发展的洞察。

To gain insight into how great apes communicate, Dr. Mitani will collect field data on all four great ape species - the orangutan, gorilla, chimpanzee, and bonobo (pygmy chimpanzee) - and supplement these materials with recordings already in his possession. Research will be conducted at the Gunung Palung Nature Reserve, West Kalimantan, Indonesia (orangutan), Mahale Mountains Research Station, Tanzania (chimpanzee), Karisoke Research Center, Rwanda (gorilla) and the Lomako Forest, Zaire (bonobo). At each site, animals will be followed and high quality tape recordings of vocalizations will be made. The context in which the calls are uttered will also be noted. Playback experiments will be conducted in which a tape recorded call will be played from a location hidden to the subject animal, and the animal's reaction will be recorded. The research addresses four specific questions. In what ways do great ape "loud calls" differ among species? Do the loud calls of apes vary in acoustic structure over the geographical range of a single species? Are there individual differences in the acoustic structure of loud calls? Is there acoustic variability within the calls of given individuals, and is this variability related to differences in their contexts of emission? All great ape species are endangered and their preservation is a high conservation priority. To do this effectively, it is necessary to understand as much as possible about their behavior, and this research will make a major step in that direction. While it is clear that these species communicate vocally, this process has been studied very little. The work is also important because it will set human language in a broader biological context and possibly provide some insight into how this uniquely human trait developed.