Scientists have recently studied marmoset monkeys interactions with each other and learned that these monkeys act much like humans: they can correctly hold a conversation! Well, that's speaking for most humans...
The research team watched marmoset monkeys throughout different environment setups and noticed that these monkeys carry out conversations almost exactly like humans. So, what all do they do that proves this? They only speak one at a time, they will wait about 5 seconds after the other talks before they speak, they listen quietly, they don't yell over the other, and they can go back and forth calmly for five plus minutes sending out full length noises. I wonder if they have arguments like humans do?!
What do other animals such as gorillas and such do? Yell over each other using random short noises and stop after a few seconds. The noises are never continuous or alternating, characteristics of a conversation.
So, what does this finding help to do for the researchers? The researchers plan to study marmosets in the womb and early interactions with their parents. They hope the new findings will give some insight as to what goes wrong in early communication in humans causing disorders.
I wonder if these monkeys can have "conversations" with humans?! I want to buy one and try it!
Link:
Mamoset Monkeys Know Polite Conversation
Further proof that the majority of mankind aren't as intellectually advanced as monkeys. ;) Seems as those these monkeys have more manners than most people these days! But it is interesting that scientists may be able to use the early interactions of these monkeys and their parents as indicators or explanations of Human Communication disorders.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I would have never thought to do research like this, but hopefully it gives us some insight that is useful!
DeleteHow kool is that!! We should learn a thing or two from them, mannerism wise.
ReplyDeleteI agree. This monkeys know better manners than humans!
DeleteI want one! I think this is a great way to study various problems that can arise in the early developmental stages of communication in humans.
ReplyDeleteMe too! Hopefully they get good, conclusive results with this study.
DeleteGot to love monkeys! The results of this study will be enlightening about how interactions with mother during childhood development affect communication skills. I question, thought, how well of a comparison it'll be to humans. Humans have so many more...distractions...in their lives that interfere with face to face communication. Parents use TV or phones to keep their kinds occupied at young ages; technology, in general, affects our communication habits. These monkeys don't have technology to influence their communication upbringing.
ReplyDeleteThis is very true. Unless they let these monkeys sit in front of a TV to see if they'll start paying attention to it. Kind of a scary thought though.
DeleteIt may not ending up being a perfect comparison, but it somewhere for them to start...
The fact that marmoset monkeys interact using real or more or less complex speech is pretty awesome. I tested my cat the other day. I had two cats which they always do a specific sound when eating ( MEANS go away I'm eating). I put the food for one of the cats and tried to simulate the sound I always hear! the cat was freaked out and left the delicious mouth watery food. It was nice! I noticed that they communicate using the same speech (miou) but the pitch of the voice is the most important here. Miou said calmly doesn't mean miaou said angrily! Once I heard a cat crying for help, it has a pretty different pitch of what i am used to hear. So i tested this with my cat. when I made the sound, my cat came in a second checking on me totally freaked out then it started rubbing itself on me. It was great! anyways nice post :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! That's a pretty cool mini experiment that you tried on your cats! My dogs are the same way. I can definitely tell the differences of their barks/cries based on the situation going on.
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