Le langage des singes Mone 2. Human language has evolved on a biological substrate with phylogenetic roots deep in the primate lineage.
Here, we describe a functional analogy to a common morphological process in human speech, affixation, in the alarm calls of free-ranging adult Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli campbelli). We found that male alarm calls are composed of an acoustically variable stem, which can be followed by an acoustically invariable suffix. Using long-term observations and predator simulation experiments, we show that suffixation in this species functions to broaden the calls' meaning by transforming a highly specific eagle alarm to a general arboreal disturbance call or by transforming a highly specific leopard alarm call to a general alert call.
We concluded that, when referring to specific external events, non-human primates can generate meaningful acoustic variation during call production that is functionally equivalent to suffixation in human language. Figures Editor: Art F. Results. Parrot Grasps Concept of Zero. A parrot has grasped the concept of zero, something humans can't do until at least the toddler phase, researchers say.
Alex, a 28-year-old African gray parrot who lives in a lab at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, has a brain the size of a walnut. But when confronted with no items on a tray where usually there are some, he says "none. " Zero is thought to be a rather abstract concept even for people. Children typically don't grasp it until age three or four, Brandeis researchers say.
Some ancient cultures lacked a formal term for zilch, even as recently as the Middle Ages. Feathered phenom Alex is a fairly skilled counter. Alex's null may be slightly different than your nada. "Alex has a zero-like concept; it's not identical to ours but he repeatedly showed us that he understands an absence of quantity," said Irene Pepperberg, who led the research Some animal intelligence is hauntingly familiar, like the male monkeys that pay to see female monkey bottoms.
Parroting behavior? 10 Animals That Use Tools. Scientists once thought of tool use as a defining feature of humans, but increasingly research is showing adept tool users on land, air and sea in the animal kingdom.
Investigating how such behavior developed in this diverse mix promises to shed light on how tool use might have originated in humanity. Chimpanzees Chimpanzees are humanity's closest living relatives, and apparently learned how to make and use tools long ago without human help, with stone hammers found at a chimp settlement in the Ivory Coast dating back 4,300 years. They are even capable of making spears to hunt other primates for meat, and are known to have developed specialized tool kits for foraging army ants. Crows Increasingly, scientists find that crows and their relatives have exceptional birdbrains, proving extraordinarily adept at crafting twigs, leaves and even their own feathers into tools.
Orangutans Elephants Dolphins Sea Otters Gorillas Octopuses Macaques Rodents Even rodents can be taught how to use tools. Bird's Tool Use Called 'Amazing' Just like in Aesop's fable, scientists now find that crows might indeed learn to drop stones in pitchers to raise the height of water inside, in this case to bring a tasty, floating worm within reach.
This suggests the fanciful millennia-old tale might actually have been based on fact. In Aesop's fable, "the crow and the pitcher," a thirsty crow dropped stones in a pitcher to raise the water level and quench its thirst. Past experiments have shown that crows and their relatives — altogether known as corvids — are indeed "remarkably intelligent, and in many ways rival the great apes in their physical intelligence and ability to solve problems," said researcher Christopher Bird at the University of Cambridge in England. Smart as primates? In recent years, scientists revealed that orangutans were able to use water as a tool, much as in the crow and pitcher fable, spitting water into a tube to bring a peanut within their grasp. All four rooks lived up to the fable. Could babies do it? Sobs and Growls Come Across In Any Language. You don't always need to use words to get your point across — you could just growl or yelp.
No matter what your cultural background, if you sob, scream or growl, others are likely to know what you mean, according to a new study. And the cries you may make when you're in danger or upset are more universally understandable than those you might let out if you're feeling good, such as a cheer or a sigh of relief, the researchers say. While several studies have looked at whether different facial expressions are recognizable to people all over the globe, few have examined the universality of so-called "nonverbal vocalizations," or the cries, grunts and laughs we all use to convey emotion without speaking, said study researcher Disa Sauter of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, in The Netherlands . In fact, no previous studies have compared the nonverbal noises of westernized cultures with those of extremely isolated groups who have had zero exposure to the modern world, she said.