Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind by Dorothy L. Cheney;Robert M. Seyfarth

Author:Dorothy L. Cheney;Robert M. Seyfarth [Dorothy L. Cheney;Robert M. Seyfarth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-09-27T02:18:00+00:00

Figure 33. When the juveniles were left behind on an island, they foraged together in a tight, bereft bunch. Photograph by Anne Engh.

These results again suggest that baboons do not produce calls in response to their perception of another individual's ignorance, predicament, or ability. From a human's perspective, it is as if a mother were chatting blithely with her friend in a busy supermarket, ignoring her toddler's cries in the next aisle. On the other hand, it is always possible to argue (if perhaps implausibly) that baboons are behaving adaptively even if they fail to respond to each other's calls. As long as she knows where her infant is, there is no real urgency for a female baboon to run to collect it or to answer its calls. As long as the adult baboons knew where the juveniles were during the Lord of the Flies separation, there was no immediate need to reunite.

But once again, the situation is more complicated than this, because for baboons it is not simply a case of "out of sight, completely out of mind." During the same flood of 2004, a two-year-old male orphan, Harley, became stranded alone after the group swam to another island. Normally, a lone juvenile isolated under these circumstances would have been killed by a predator. Harley, however, was resourceful. First he joined a group of impala and foraged with them for two days. Then, perhaps tiring of the impalas' rather tedious company, he joined a group of vervets, who tried but failed to chase him away. Throughout his separation, Harley gave contact barks that were occasionally "answered" by his aunts on distant islands. But the group never came to Harley's island, and Harley was left to forage alone with the vervets. Finally, five weeks later, the group came to an island that was separated from Harley's island by only 50 meters of water. The group gathered at the water's edge, grunting and barking at Harley. Whenever Harley approached the water, the group responded with a chorus of loud, rapid grunts. Finally, after several forays, Harley swam to other side. As soon as he emerged, his aunts ran up to him and attempted to groom him. First, however, Harley approached a male who had immigrated into the group during his separation and presented to him. The other group members obviously recognized Harley, and treated his reunification as more than a casual event. Indeed, their behavior during this incident makes their diffidence during briefer but more stressful separations even more difficult to understand.

A variety of results argue, therefore, that baboons and other primates do not produce vocalizations in response to their perception of another individual's ignorance or circumstance. They appear not to understand that their own knowledge and abilities might be different from someone else's. But might they be capable of recognizing other individuals' intentions and motivations?

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.