Selin Atakan
Research Mentor(s): Thore Bergman
Mentor Department: Psychology
Authors: Selin Atakan, Nicki Guisneuf
Session: Session 6 (3:00pm – 3:50pm)
Presentation Type: Poster 66
Abstract
Twitters are a common type of communication call used by white-faced capuchin monkeys. They can vary auditorily and sound different based on the situation or individual who makes the call. This strongly suggests that twitters have different meanings and purposes depending on how and who they are used by. To better understand the variation in twitters, researchers collected data on white-faced capuchin monkey twitters from the Taboga Forest Reserve in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica. Data collection involved recording twitter vocalizations using a Zoom H5 recorder and a Sennheiser ME600 shotgun microphone. The calls were recorded using the pre-record function and taken at a maximum distance of 15 meters from the subject. After all the fieldwork was collected, researchers conducted an acoustic analysis of the calls. The first step was an assessment of acoustic quality which filtered out recordings of low quality and high amounts of background noise from the statistical analysis. Using Avisoft, the calls are being labeled with vocalization type and monkey ID. They will also be measured for duration, in seconds, maximum frequency, in hertz, and bandwidth, in hertz (the range of frequencies, difference between the highest and lowest frequencies). The potential findings can reveal a pattern between the twitters by showing a correlation between the measures of the call and internal (sex, age, group identity) or external (environmental context, level of danger in the area) influences. This information will provide researchers with a better understanding of the purpose and meaning behind monkey twitters based on auditory data, the context of the caller, and environmental factors.
