Paternal kin discrimination using acoustic cues

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In primates, kinship plays a central role in structuring social relationships between individuals. Among rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) strong evidence exists that (i) maternally related individuals recognize each other using acoustic cues and (ii) that most likely familiarity is the underlying mechanism to identify maternal kin. However, recognizing paternally related individuals such as paternal half-siblings (individuals sired by the same male, but born to different mothers) is probably more difficult as most female primates mate with multiple males during likely conception. Nevertheless, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that primates socially favor their paternal kin over nonkin, and that vocalization might play a role in paternal kin discrimination. To date, it remains unknown what cues and mechanisms are used in paternal kin discrimination. The current project is set up to test (1) whether information signaling paternal relatedness is encoded in the acoustic structure of rhesus macaque vocalizations, and (2) to clarify the mechanism underlying paternal kin discrimination (with familiarity and phenotype matching being the most likely mechanisms). For the purpose of this study we will combine fine-tuned acoustic analyses with detailed data on genetic relatedness. The underlying mechanisms will be investigated using playback experiments. The results of the study will fundamentally improve our knowledge on the impact of kinship upon the evolution of social behavior.