image: Left: a gelada male attacks two females, who respond with screams and bared-teeth facial expressions. Right: one of the study subjects, feeding, is about to receive the audio stimulus; the experimenter (Luca Pedruzzi) remains hidden behind vegetation, with the loudspeaker concealed from the subject’s view.
Credit: Alice Galotti and Elisabetta Palagi, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Gelada monkeys understand complex "conversations" involving distress calls and prosocial comforting responses, exhibiting surprise when such vocal exchanges are manipulated to violate their expectations
Article URL: https://plos.io/3Gvw78V
Article title: Wild gelada monkeys detect emotional and prosocial cues in vocal exchanges during aggression
Author countries: Italy, Ethiopia, France
Funding: The research has been funded by the Leakey Foundation (Science for reconciliation: What an Ethiopian monkey tells about peace-making, grant n° S202310431) and by the following zoos and foundations (funders of BRIDGES project, UNIPI, AOO "BIO" - 0005878/2022), in alphabetic order: Dudley Zoo (UK), Fondazione ARCA (Italy), Giardino Zoologico di Pistoia (Italy), NaturZoo Rheine (Germany), Parc des Félins (France), Parco Natura Viva (Italy), Parco Zoo Falconara (Italy), Rotterdam Zoo (The Netherlands), Saint-Félicien (Canada), Wildlife Conservation Benefit (Italy), Wilhelma Zoo (Germany), Zoo de Cerza (France), Zoo de La Boissière du doré (France). Rennes Métropole and the Région Bretagne (France) covered the field expenses for the first author while the University of Pisa and University of Rennes funded student fellowships. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Journal
PLOS One
Article Title
Wild gelada monkeys detect emotional and prosocial cues in vocal exchanges during aggression
Article Publication Date
14-May-2025
COI Statement
The authors declare no competing interests.