Comparative Studies of Great Ape Vocal Behavior

为了深入了解类人猿如何交流，三谷博士将 收集所有四种类人猿的实地数据-猩猩， 大猩猩、黑猩猩和倭黑猩猩（侏儒黑猩猩）， 补充这些材料与录音已经在他的 附身 研究将在巴隆山进行 自然保护区，西加里曼丹，印度尼西亚（猩猩），Mahale 山脉研究站，坦桑尼亚（黑猩猩），Karisoke 卢旺达（大猩猩）和扎伊尔Lomako森林研究中心 （倭黑猩猩）。 在每个研究中心，将对动物进行跟踪， 并会录下高质素的发声录音带。 的 发出呼叫的上下文也将被记录。 将进行回放实验，其中磁带记录 呼叫将从对对象动物隐藏的位置播放， 并记录动物的反应。 研究涉及四个具体问题。 在哪些方面 类人猿的“大声呼叫”在不同物种之间是不同的？ 大声呼叫 在不同的地理范围内， 一个单一的物种？ 是否存在个体差异， 大声呼叫的声学结构？ 是否存在声学可变性 在特定个体的叫声中， 与它们排放环境的差异有关吗？ 所有的大型猿类物种都濒临灭绝，保护它们是一个重要的问题。 保护优先。 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一步。 虽然很明显，这些物种用声音交流， 该过程的研究很少。 工作也很重要 因为它将把人类语言置于一个更广泛的生物学领域， 背景，并可能提供一些见解，如何独特的， 人类特征的发展。

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.