Orangutans Announce Their Travel Plans A Day In Advance

[Judi Lynn]

Orangutans Announce Their Travel Plans A Day In Advance

In the wild, male apes can plan ahead where they'll be going, and they keep their female friends apprised.

By Shaunacy Ferro Posted 09.11.2013 at 5:00 pm

We often think of the ability to plan for the future as a uniquely human attribute. Recent studies have suggested that our primate cousins might be able to plan for certain occasions, as well (like the mischievous chimp who stockpiled stones that he could later hurl at zoo visitors) but whether they use this ability in the wild is harder to show. A new study from the Anthropological Institute and Museum at the University of Zurich indicates that wild great apes do, in fact, plan hours in advance, and announce their plans to their friends.

Anthropologist Carel va Shaik tracked the ability of male orangutans to plan their travels in Indonesia through what's called a "long call," a spontaneous cry certain males—the ones that develop large cheek pads, called flanged males—emit throughout the day. "It’s a very loud booming vocalization that lasts up to four minutes—usually one to two—that goes like woop woop woop. We call them pulses." These male orangutans call in the direction they plan to travel up to a day in advance, he found, with the flanges acting like nature's bullhorn to focus the call in one direction.

"Basically, they’re telling their female audience where they’re going," he explains. Orangutans are more solitary than other apes, and most males live out of sight from other orangutans. The orangutans make these spontaneous long calls, which can be heard from up to a kilometer away, three or four times a day. Orangutans can recognize the voices of different individuals based on the call, and female orangutans seem to remain in earshot of the dominant male in the population.

"Instead of shaking his head or turning his body around in all directions, which is what you would expect or what other species do, he looks in one direction very rigidly," van Shaik, a professor at the University of Zurich, told Popular Science. The direction the male called in correlated with the direction he would move in over the next day or so. "Instead of broadcasting, it’s narrowcasting."

More:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-09/orangutans-plan-and-announce-their-direction-travel-day-ahead

[Judi Lynn]

1. Orangutans plan their future route and communicate it to others, researchers show

Orangutans plan their future route and communicate it to others, researchers show
Sep 11, 2013

Male orangutans plan their travel route up to one day in advance and communicate it to other members of their species. In order to attract females and repel male rivals, they call in the direction in which they are going to travel. Anthropologists at the University of Zurich have found that not only captive, but also wild-living orangutans make use of their planning ability.

For a long time it was thought that only humans had the ability to anticipate future actions, whereas animals are caught in the here and now. But in recent years, clever experiments with great apes in zoos have shown that they do remember past events and can plan for their future needs. Anthropologists at the University of Zurich have now investigated whether wild apes also have this skill, following them for several years through the dense tropical swamplands of Sumatra.

Orangutans communicate their plans

Orangutans generally journey through the forest alone, but they also maintain social relationships. Adult males sometimes emit loud 'long calls' to attract females and repel rivals. Their cheek pads act as a funnel for amplifying the sound in the same way as a megaphone. Females that only hear a faint call come closer in order not to lose contact. Non-dominant males on the other hand hurry in the opposite direction if they hear the call coming loud and clear in their direction.

More:
http://phys.org/news/2013-09-orangutans-future-route.html