scholarly journals Symbolic Signal Use in Wild Chimpanzee Gestural Communication?: A Theoretical Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Cissewski ◽  
Lydia V. Luncz
Keyword(s):  
Great Apes ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Wild Chimpanzee ◽  
Gestural Communication ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Laboratory Findings ◽  
Symbolic Communication ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Signal Use

Symbolic communication is not obvious in the natural communicative repertoires of our closest living relatives, the great apes. However, great apes do show symbolic competencies in laboratory studies. This includes the understanding and the use of human-provided abstract symbols. Given this evidence for the underlying ability, the apparent failure to make use of it in the wild is puzzling. We provide a theoretical framework for identifying basic forms of symbolic signal use in chimpanzee natural communication. In line with the laboratory findings, we concentrate on the most promising domain to investigate, namely gesture, and we provide a case study in this area. We suggest that evidence for basic symbolic signal use would consist of the presence of two key characteristics of symbolic communication, namely arbitrariness and conventionalization. Arbitrariness means that the linkage between the form of the gesture and its meaning shows no obvious logical or otherwise motivated connection. Conventionalization means that the gesture is shared at the group-level and is thus socially learned, not innate. Further, we discuss the emergence and transmission of these gestures. Demonstrating this basic form of symbolic signal use would indicate that the symbolic capacities revealed by laboratory studies also find their expression in the natural gestural communication of our closest living relatives, even if only to a limited extent. This theoretical article thus aims to contribute to our understanding of the developmental origins of great ape gestures, and hence, arguably, of human symbolic communication. It also has a very practical aim in that by providing clear criteria and by pointing out potential candidates for symbolic communication, we give fieldworkers useful prerequisites for identifying and analyzing signals which may demonstrate the use of great apes’ symbolic capacities in the wild.

scholarly journals Gestural Communication of Wild Bonnet Macaques in the Bandipur National Park, Southern India

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shreejata Gupta ◽  
Anindya Sinha
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Studies ◽  
National Park ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Southern India ◽  
Gestural Communication ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Macaca Radiata ◽  
Bonnet Macaques ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Gesture Studies

Nonhuman primate gestures are believed to be crucial evolutionary precursors of human language. Comparative studies on primate gestures in an evolutionary framework have, however, remained largely restricted to the great apes and the potential flexibility and richness of gestural communication in monkeys, especially in the wild, continue to be virtually unknown. In this paper, we followed several criteria, adapted from ape gesture studies, to identify gestures and evaluate their contexts of usage in the repertoire of wild bonnet macaques Macaca radiata in the Bandipur National Park of southern India. This report is the first of its kind to systematically identify gestures in any wild, non-ape species, thus providing a platform for comparative studies across primate taxa, particularly in our efforts to trace out the phylogenetic origins of language-like markers in the primate lineage, earlier than in the great apes.

A Formal Model for Managing Multiple Observation Data in Agriculture

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 79-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Watanee Jearanaiwongkul ◽  
Frederic Andres ◽  
Chutiporn Anutariya
Keyword(s):  
Search Engines ◽  
Question Answering ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Similarity Function ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Contextual Data ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Key Characteristics

Nowadays, farmers can search for treatments for their plants using search engines and applications. Most existing works are developed in the form of rule-based question answering platforms. However, an observation could be incorrectly given by the farmer. This work recommends that diseases and treatments must be considered from a set of related observations. Thus, we develop a theoretical framework for systems to manage a farmer's observation data. We investigate and formalize desirable characteristics of such systems. The observation data is attached with a geolocation in which related contextual data is found. The framework is formalized based on algebra, in which required types and functions are identified. Its key characteristics are described by: (1) the defined type called warncons for representing observation data; (2) the similarity function for warncons; and (3) the warncons composition function for composing similar warncons. Finally, we show that the framework helps observation data to become richer and improve advice-finding.

Gestural phrases and gestural exchanges by a pair of zoo-living lowland gorillas

Gesture ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne E. Tanner
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Gestural Communication ◽  
Visual Data ◽  
Electronic Edition ◽  
Partial Picture ◽  
Lowland Gorillas

Previous study of the spontaneous gestural communication of the great apes has been primarily of individual gestures and their sequels. Such analysis gives only a partial picture of the quality of gorilla interaction. The repertoire of gestures of a pair of gorillas at San Francisco Zoo have been described by Tanner and Byrne (1993, 1996, 1999). These gorillas often used gestures in continuous sequences or phrases. Both single gestures and phrases were used in exchanges between gorillas. Phrases included a variety of syntactic functions, and exchanges seemed to negotiate matters such as location, initiator, and type of play. Both single gestures and phrases could be modified by “negative’ gestures. Detailed transcription of gorilla communicative events show that gestures are continually being modified and varied by the communicative partners, rather than being ritualized elements of a finite repertoire. The electronic edition of this article includes audio-visual data.

Comparison of the Effect of Imipramine and Desipramine on Some Symptoms of Depressive Illness

1965 ◽  
Vol 111 (478) ◽  
pp. 889-897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Griffith Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Species Differences ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Depressive Illness ◽  
Experimental Demonstration ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Laboratory Findings ◽  
Leptazol Convulsions ◽  
Antidepressant Action

The possibility that desipramine might prove to be a rapidly acting antidepressant was first raised by laboratory studies. In 1959 desipramine was isolated as a metabolite of imipramine (Hermann et al., 1959; Hermann and Pulver, 1960), and a series of papers then followed (Brodie et al., 1961; Gillette et al., 1961; Sulser et al., 1962) in which it was shown that reserpine-induced inactivity in the rat can be more rapidly reversed by desipramine than by imipramine. This was referred to (Gillette et al., 1961) as an experimental demonstration of the relative rapidity of the “antidepressant” action of the two drugs. Other experimental reports should however warn against incautious interpretation of laboratory findings. Garattini et al. (1962) showed that desipramine is not responsible for all the actions of imipramine: in mice, leptazol convulsions are inhibited by the latter but not by the former drug. Dingell et al. (1964) were able to show considerable species differences in the rate at which imipramine is converted to desipramine and in the rate at which desipramine is then destroyed. Their paper also emphasizes the paucity of information on the metabolism of imipramine in human subjects.

Energetics: the costs of living and reproducing for an individual cephalopod

1996 ◽  
Vol 351 (1343) ◽  
pp. 1083-1104 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Specific Dynamic Action ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Food Conversion ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Excretion Rates ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Conversion Efficiencies

Cephalopods, like all other animals, have to decide how to allocate resources; maintenance processes, growth of somatic and reproductive tissues, and locomotor activity all have costs. We should like to be able to identify these costs and discover how efficiently cephalopods make use of the prey that they capture and digest. Cephalopods generally grow fast and mature rapidly; a first task is to determine how accurately laboratory studies reflect growth in the wild, because much of the information we need (such as food conversion efficiencies, excretion rates or the costs of locomotion) can be collected only from animals kept in the laboratory. Comparison of laboratory feeding and growth rates for octopods, sepioids and teuthoids with fisheries data suggests that data collected from cephalopods fed ad libitum in the laboratory may be used validly to construct energy budgets representative of individuals in the wild. The immediate cost of feeding (the specific dynamic action) has been thoroughly documented in Octopus , as has the longer-term elevation or depression of metabolic rate by feeding or starvation; it is assumed that similar costs will be found in squid. The cost of locomotion has been studied in both octopods and squid, but we have only limited data on how much time the animals spend moving, and how rapidly, in the wild. Excretory and faecal losses are assessed from laboratory studies, and maintenance costs estimated from feeding rates that just maintain body mass in the laboratory. Comparison of gross and net food conversion efficiencies suggest that squid convert food into tissues less efficiently than octopods, owing primarily to their greater time spent in locomotion. We present a representative series of energy budgets for octopods (based on Octopus ) and squids (based on Illex and Loligo ), for starving, feeding, migrating and maturing individuals. A major contrast is provided by Nautilus, which lives for ten or twenty years and grows only slowly. Finally we speculate on the possible biochemical and historical factors that may have limited the adaptive radiation of cephalopods, resulting in a group lacking herbivores, detritivores or filter-feeders but extremely successful as carnivores.

scholarly journals Case Report: Sickle Cell Anemia; First Case Reported from Egypt

Blood ◽  
1951 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 555-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. ABBASY
Keyword(s):  
Sickle Cell ◽  
Sickle Cell Anemia ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Laboratory Findings ◽  
Rheumatic Arthritis ◽  
Points Of Interest ◽  
First Case ◽  
Paternal Uncle ◽  
The Family

Abstract Rheumatic fever, rheumatic arthritis, acholuric jaundice were excluded in this case on the clinical and laboratory findings. The history, physical examination and the laboratory studies all supported the diagnosis of sickle cell anemia. This case presents certain points of interest. It is the first case of sickle cell anemia reported from Egypt. The disease was found in the patient and her father and excluded in the other members of the family. It is, however, possible that the paternal uncle had also suffered and died from the disease. The patient is a white girl and admixture of Negro blood was reasonably excluded through 6 ancestral generations. This case, therefore, adds to those already described in subjects of the white race from the Mediterranean area. It will be noticed that the patient’s family originates from Algeria, where 3 cases were diagnosed in natives by Smith19 on the basis of the anatomical changes observed in the spleen.

scholarly journals Habituating the great apes: the disease risks

Oryx ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael H. Woodford ◽  
Thomas M. Butynski ◽  
William B. Karesh
Keyword(s):  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Iucn Red List ◽  
Human Diseases ◽  
Illegal Hunting ◽  
Civil Unrest ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Disease Risks ◽  
International Visitors

All six great apes, gorillas Gorilla gorilla and G. beringei, chimpanzees Pan troglodytes and P. paniscus, and orang-utans Pongo pygmaeus and P. abelii, are categorized as Endangered on the 2000 IUCN Red List and face many threats to their continued existence in the wild. These threats include loss of habitat to settlement, logging and agriculture, illegal hunting for bushmeat and traditional medicine, the live ape trade, civil unrest and infectious diseases. The great apes are highly susceptible to many human diseases, some of which can be fatal while others can cause marked morbidity. There is increasing evidence that diseases can be transmitted from humans to free-living habituated apes, sometimes with serious consequences. If protective measures are not improved, ape populations that are frequently in close contact with people will eventually be affected by the inadvertent transmission of human diseases. This paper describes the risks, sources and circumstances of infectious disease transmission from humans to great apes during and consequent upon habituation for tourism and research. A major problem is that the regulations that protect habituated apes from the transmission of disease from people are often poorly enforced. Suggestions are made for improving the enforcement of existing regulations governing ape-based tourism, and for minimizing the risk of disease transmission between humans, both local people and international visitors, and the great apes.

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