Female putty-nosed monkeys know what to do when they detect a leopard. They chirp out an alarm call to the males, essentially recruiting them to be their “hired guns.” In response, the males approach the group while making “pyow” sounds, demonstrating their commitment to serve as bodyguards, and possibly enhancing their reproductive opportunities, experts say. […]
C.Kolopp/WCS
When faced with a predator, female putty-nosed monkeys will call males to help protect them from the threat.
Putty-nosed monkeys (
Cercopithecus
nictitans) live in the forests of West Africa in groups of one male with multiple females and their offspring. The male will tend to roam further from the group and leave females to forage for themselves, but the females and lone male will alert each other when predators are nearby.
Advertisement
Communication in this species differs based on sex. Females produce a single “chirp” to alert others when any form of predator is nearby, while the lone males will use different calls based on the type of predator spotted: “pyow” calls for those on the ground, like leopards, and “hack” calls for predatory eagles.
Researchers studied groups of putty-nosed monkeys in the north of the Congo
They exposed the monkeys to a leopard model a man in a leopard-print sheet
The team found that the sexes responded differently to the simulated threat
Females summoned males, to mob the intruder, by emitting a general alarm call
The males responded with pyow and kek calls to reassure the female monkeys